Zhao Ta sat in the meeting hall, on both sides were the steward and several tax officials sent by the county government, he was an old god, but several tax officials were trembling, they explained that they were waiting for the prince's next words.

The Song Dynasty implemented the household registration management system of the main customers, and the customers were generally not the private belongings of the landlords, but were also incorporated into the household registration and became the official household registration of the state, which was a progress in history, but they had to pay the tax and pay the husband's service, and some customers directly paid the summer and autumn taxes. Even if they don't pay it directly, it's the wool that comes from the sheep, and the owner will raise the rent to pass on the tax to them, and although a bumper harvest is now in sight, they are even more worried, and they don't know what the new owner will do.

The Song Dynasty still followed the two-tax law. The tax lost by the summer tax is generally folded into cloth, so the person who loses the summer tax is also called "tax silk". Because the two Song Dynasty succumbed to the Liao, Western Xia, Jin and other countries in the north, they had to "send" many forced silks every year; At the same time, a lot of silk was needed for foreign trade and rewarding officials, and the government had a great demand for silk, so the "Dingkou Fu" and "Miscellaneous Fu" were formulated. They are often used in silk instead of Fu, and are known as "body silk". Both taxes must be "paid along with the two taxes." Of these taxes, silk accounted for half of the government's total silk revenue at that time. During the two Song Dynasty, the amount of the two taxes did not change much on the surface, but additional taxes such as "and buy silk" were formulated.

After Cai Jing reformed the "salt money law" in this dynasty, the pre-purchase has evolved beyond recognition, and the government not only does not pay the salt that accounts for seven cents of the silk price, but also does not even pay the money that accounts for three cents of the silk price, and the weight of the silk horses handed over by the households is increased from 12 taels per horse to 13 taels per horse. At this point, the pre-purchase has completely become an additional tax on the two taxes, and there is only one purpose - to loot the people's ointment.

What is even more tragic is that with the transformation of pre-purchase into "white writing" (white taking), households convert the grain and silk levied by the two taxes into cash and hand it over, which is called discounting, which is actually the monetization of the commonly used means of payment in modern times. But the changes in the Song Dynasty were not so simple. According to the need, the imperial court could also ask the households to convert the cash they should pay into grain and silk, or order them to exchange grain and cloth for each other. What's more, the people had to convert the first thing into money, then the money into the second thing, and then turn the second thing into money and then hand it over.

In this way, the actual amount paid by the households reached more than twice the normal amount, and the result was that the taxes of the people were also increased. The government has also always taken advantage of the changes to profit from the transformation of the relationship between material and money. After several "baptisms" of "twists and turns", some people who work all year round have even ended up with a clean end.

Zhao Ta thought about it for a long time, the surrounding ten miles of land was basically bought by him, almost all the people living here are tenants of the Zhao Mansion, if the tax is reasonable, he does not object to the government to tax them, and also hopes that the tenants will pay taxes, after all, in modern society it is also the obligation of every citizen to pay taxes according to law, but now the taxes borne by the tenants have obviously exceeded their affordability, and it is not reasonable at all, to be precise, it should be harsh taxes.

He also understands that he can't change the status quo of the whole society by himself, and all he can do is to make the tenants pay reasonable taxes, and to hell with the so-called 'conversion and transfer', "Master Zhang, I have no objection to you collecting taxes on my Zhuangzi, but I hope you follow the rules, don't add any messy things to it, and don't want to rub some oil and water from it, if what you do provokes a civil uprising, don't say that I don't agree, even the emperor won't let you go, right?" When it's time to lose your head, I'm afraid even your boss won't be able to protect you! Zhao Ta took a sip of tea and said leisurely.

"Lord Xie, the little one will never dare to come nonsense, I will do things impartially!" As soon as the words fell, Zhang Zhubo actually left his seat and knelt down and kowtowed, and everyone in the hall was startled.

"Okay, you are loyal to the country, and this king will not treat you badly, Zheng Shou, you will accompany them for the next few days!" The tea in Zhao Ta's mouth squirted out, wondering if he had smoked epilepsy. It's no wonder he thinks so, evil officials, evil officials, don't look at the officials are just a new Jiupin class, but they are grassroots workers, and they are the ones who do the specific work, and they are often still a Jiupin after a lifetime of hard work. The iron-clad officials who run water, they don't have a big future, so they can only get some money to spend, Zhao Ta said this is to cut off their 'gray income' should be hated, but looking at their appearance, they are grateful. ,

Hearing the prince praise a few people, he was even more grateful, and retreated resignedly, and when he got to the door, several people wiped their sweat and suddenly looked at each other and smiled, as if they had come back alive from a trip through the ghost gate.

"Master Zhang, isn't the prince as terrifying as they say, it's very reasonable!" A fat tax collector looked around and said carelessly.

"Shhhh Zhang Zhubo led a few people until he walked outside the gate of the mansion and said: "I heard from my colleagues in the mansion that the prince is a child, and he hates bullying people the most, and he is a bad person, as long as you do things and obey the rules, he will not be difficult for you, and now it seems that what he said is true!" ”

"Damn, this bastard of Wu Zhixian can't look down on our brothers, so he sent an errand to find death, I thought I wouldn't be able to live, I came to prepare the shroud, just wait for the head to hit the ground!"

"Brother is right, Wu Jinxian's guy forced us to set up a card here last time, but the prefect and the general judge scolded him, and he lost face in front of his colleagues, so he put this revenge on our heads, and this time he sent us here again, because he wanted to announce his personal vendetta and kill people with a knife!"

"Don't always think about the worst, I heard my second cousin's brother-in-law who was on an errand in the government during the Chinese New Year say that when they followed the Qin mission, they were robbed by the prince, they were clever and gave the money to buy the road, Lord Cai thought he was a Qin cha, scolded two sentences, and let the prince almost chop it, and then gave this number before putting it back, but one of the people under his command got Zhang Jin Yezi, do you say it is a blessing or a curse?"

"Don't talk nonsense, we have learned the "Da Zhaozhuang Law Enforcement Guide" several times, we must be fair in doing things, we must speak kindly, how much tax is counted, we only have one life!" Zhang Zhubo interrupted the complaints of several people and said.

"The main book, the magistrate has given us a task, and we will be punished if we can't finish it!"

"Cut, what are you afraid of, if you don't collect enough, let's go back and say that the prince has deducted a part, and he has left so much for us, no matter how bold he is, he doesn't dare to go to the palace to ask!" Zhang Zhubo said disdainfully.

"The master book is high, we are ashamed of ourselves!" A few tax collectors immediately flattered the world, saying that you are our head, and hitting the board will also hit you first, what are we afraid of, a few people have the bottom in their hearts, and happily collect taxes.

It's just that I pity Zhao Tan, stupidly thinking that he is smart, bluffing a few tax collectors, but he doesn't know that his 'spotted evil deeds' have been used by the treacherous and cunning evil officials, not only successfully completed the tax collection task, but also made a lot of money, just put the account on his head, but the tenants are also elated, this is the least summer tax they have paid in their lives, and this merit is of course also recorded on the head of the prince!

······

After the summer harvest, the tenants were busy planting rice, and they also lost this spring to build a dam and dredge the canal, and most of the fields were filled with water in time to ensure that the rice seedlings were planted on time, on the other hand, the Zhuangzi of other people around them were not so lucky, and when they finished harvesting the wheat, they had no rain for a long time, so they could only plant some miscellaneous grains, delaying the harvest for half a year, but they were afraid that after the autumn tax, the family could only beg for food along the street.

The tenants thanked the prince for his kindness, and after they were busy with the work in the fields, they immediately paved the road and built a new village. Everyone knows that after the new house is repaired, there will be one of their own, so they are extra attentive, and they don't need to rush to work, they all want to spend the New Year in the new house.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and Zhao Ta now spends most of his time hiding in the house or garden to escape the heat, rarely going out, either reading books or writing and drawing on paper every day, and he doesn't know what Lu Dao is busy with.

"The workshop will continue to expand, and the smelter will be built at the end of the year, and it will be able to produce as soon as the winery is red at the end of the year; This year's drought and the lack of water in the reservoir make it impossible to raise fish, so we can only wait until next spring, but the feed mill and the feedlot must be built quickly, otherwise the distiller's grains will be wasted, the mill will also be started quickly, the wheat bran can also be used as feed, and the pigs and chickens and ducks raised can be put on the market before the year; The greenhouse is also ready to be built, and this year it will reach a scale of 20 acres, and the investment is not large, but it can also make a lot of money; Do you want to build a weaving factory, gather all the women in the village, find something for them to do, and increase your income?" Zhao Ta was calculating the money in his pocket while planning for the future. ,

"Money, why can't I pick up a gold ingot on the road and plant a cash tree on the ground..." After a long time, the gap is still very large, and the money in the house this year is too much, not enough, Zhao Ta couldn't help but wail.

"Second master, it's really not good, let's raise the ground rent, and we can increase our income a little!" Seeing that the prince was angry for money, he couldn't help but persuade.

"No, the tenants are digging in the soil, and they don't have a few dollars left a year, so why can't we bear to rent more land?" Zhao Ta didn't even think about it, so he rejected Jianxi's suggestion.

"Second master, then stop the workshop for a while and reduce the output, now the warehouse is full of harvesters, and this is a big expense just for wages and materials!" Seeing the joy and coming up with an idea.

"No, in a few days, our large orders will arrive, and I'm afraid that this inventory won't be sold for a few days, and we will be able to make a profit next year, this can't be stopped!" Zhao Ta gave no again.

"Second master, you have enough money, you have spent so much tossing and making trouble, and now you can only be a thing!" Jianxi said helplessly.

"Yes, you see that one in this house is valuable, you just take it out and take it, aren't those two little kings very valuable, you can take it!" Zhao Ta felt that what he said was interesting, and pointed to the two green-haired turtles on the windowsill and said, "I am a dignified prince, and the people who travel after a thousand years will live by being in charge, and they will not let the latecomers laugh off their big teeth."

"Cut, the second master thinks of beauty, the pawnshop doesn't accept living creatures, and you don't want it for nothing, that glass jar can still be exchanged for hundreds of times!" Seeing that the prince was teasing him, he deliberately said angrily.

"Glass glass, glass glass... Damn, isn't this exactly what turns loess into gold? After hearing Jianxi's words, Zhao Ta became sick again, and muttered with an idiot on his face.