According to the ideas of the adults in the capital, the first thing that will cause chaos in this tax matter is the two prefectures of Jianghuai near Zhongzhou.

However, it was Naoli who was the first to mess up.

The emperor and the adults feel that the people of Zhili are rich, and they can pay double the taxes, at most they can sell a few acres of land, and there is no big fork.

But the emperor and the adults didn't know that the fields of Zhili had long been taken by the emperor's relatives and noble officials, and the people did not have much land in their hands, plus the anti-Rong tax of one person and one or two silver, which was even worse.

And this is only the summer tax, there is also the autumn tax in October, the poor people in Zhili are desperate, many people who are forty-five years old, after selling their bodies and no one wants them, in order to make the family pay less taxes, they actually committed suicide together.

In Zhili Village alone, there are more than 30 people who have killed themselves, and almost all the old people in the village have died, just to save their share of taxes for their families.

The rest of the girls are sold for what they can sell, and while paying a penny less in taxes, they can also exchange silver for the family, although the value of silver has been as low as one or two, and the young girl is only five hundred Wen, but as long as someone buys it, they can live.

When the emperor and the adults in the capital heard this, they were shocked.

In addition to being shocked, the emperor was more angry, he was so angry that he flipped the table, and immediately ordered to punish several adults in Zhili, and even called several pavilion elders into the palace overnight and scolded them, blaming them for not doing things well, so that such a thing against heaven happened at the feet of the Son of Heaven!

Shangguan Pavilion is very headache, when you said that you would charge double the tax, we have already told us, this is going to be a big thing, don't you listen, now that the dead are blaming us?

The other four cabinet elders immediately pleaded with the emperor: "Your Majesty is angry, it is the old ministers who are not doing well, please punish the emperor!" ”

With a bang, Emperor Jing Yuan smashed the cup, pointed at them and scolded: "It's this kind of cliché again, if something happens, you will only ask for guilt, let me calm my anger, you don't have anything else useful to say?!" ”

Yes, I said it, but you don't listen.

The elder of Shangguan Pavilion sighed and said to Emperor Jing Yuan: "Your Majesty, the old people in the village committed suicide together to think that the matter of saving taxes at home is just a trivial matter, and now the most important thing to watch out for is the people in the barracks, those who serve in the army have families, if they can't afford to pay taxes at home, it is very likely that they will ...... Anti. ”

Emperor Jing Yuan was most worried about this, his face was dark when he heard the words, but he thought that the Wei Guogong family had been eliminated, and the other soldiers were not afraid, so he was not so worried.

However, he did not want to rebel against the soldiers, so he said: "I will personally issue a holy decree to exempt half of the taxes of those who have soldiers in their families." ”

When he said this, Emperor Jingyuan's heart was dripping blood, Da Chu was the world that was immediately conquered, and he had been competing with Da Rong for many years, and there were many soldiers, and half of the tax was exempted for those who had soldiers at home, which was not a small amount.

The elder of Shangguan Pavilion frowned, and said: "Your Majesty, the army will soon go out to fight against Darong, and it is a plan to use soldiers at this moment, so it is better to exempt all the taxes of those who have soldiers at home, so that the soldiers will definitely be grateful for the emperor's grace, and when they fight against the Rong people, they will definitely be more courageous." ”

Emperor Jing Yuan did not agree: "When marching and fighting, you need to rely on silver to support, and there are many soldiers in the Great Chu, if you exempt all the taxes of the soldiers' families, where will the silver come from to fight?" Are the lovers out? Or are those wealthy families out? ”

After speaking, he sneered twice, and the eyes of the yin owl like an eagle stared at the five pavilion elders in the hall.

Among the five elders, four of them had changed their faces, these four were all children of the family, and they did not stop the tax this time, and they were also afraid that Emperor Jingyuan would not be able to hold the silver, and he would take action against the wealthy family.

During the period of Emperor Jingwu, half of the wealthy families had been killed and their homes were raided, and there were not many left, so they couldn't let all the wealthy families fold in the hands of the three ancestors and grandsons of Emperor Jingwu.

Emperor Jing Yuan saw that they didn't speak, so he sneered: "I know that you Aiqing have worked hard, but this time I have done a very tolerant job of taxes, the northwest, northeast, and Zhongzhou have not increased taxes, and the places where taxes have been increased are all rich towns, if the taxes can't be collected, I have to wonder, is there a big rat in the rich hometown of Dachu?" ”

The richest place in Dachu is nothing more than Jiangnan, and since the war of the former dynasty, many wealthy families have moved to Jiangnan to avoid military disasters, and they have placed a lot of industries in Jiangnan, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the wealthy families are the emperors of Jiangnan.

And the Shuo rat in Emperor Jingyuan's mouth that prevented him from collecting taxes in the rich township was referring to the wealthy family entrenched in the south of the Yangtze River.

The cold sweat of the Shangguan Pavilion elders came down, and he knelt down with a few pavilion elders, and said: "Your Majesty is merciful, the ministers and the people love it, and the tax collection is also to attack Darong and avenge the people of Dachu, and the people are naturally willing to donate generously." ”

Emperor Jing Yuan smiled: "In this case, you Aiqing will go down to do something." Keep an eye on the military camps in various places, and don't make any other mess, otherwise you will ......"

Don't blame him for learning from the emperor's grandfather and killing the wealthy family to get money!

"Wechen obeys." The elders of Shangguan Pavilion hurriedly retreated, and after leaving the Mingwei Palace, they wiped a cold sweat together.

Emperor Jingyuan is really ruthless, Emperor Jingwu killed the wealthy family because he didn't want the court to be controlled by the wealthy family, and Emperor Jingyuan killed the wealthy family purely to fill the treasury.

In addition to killing the wealthy family, Emperor Jing Yuan also loved to kill the founding nobles, and the founding nobles with heavy troops were almost wiped out, and those who were obedient must also put their daughters and granddaughters into the harem to show their loyalty.

The hearts of several elders: The founding of the country has only been three generations, and with such brutal means, I am afraid that it will be finished.

Qi Yi stood outside the Mingwei Palace, and waited for a few pavilion elders to leave before returning to the Mingwei Palace.

In the Mingwei Palace, the eunuchs and palace maids were lightly cleaning up the smashed things, and it didn't take long to clean them up, Qi Yi bowed to Emperor Jingyuan, returned to his table, and continued to write a holy decree to Emperor Jingyuan.

When Emperor Jing Yuan saw him, he frowned, and asked with anger in his voice, "Don't you have anything to say to me?" ”

In the past, when I saw such a thing, didn't I always advise him to calm down and not act impulsively?

Dumb now?

Or do you think he's hopeless?!

When Qi Yi heard this, he didn't raise his head, just lowered his head, turned in the direction of Emperor Jingyuan, and said respectfully: "Weichen doesn't dare." ”

With a bang, the table that the eunuchs had just cleaned up was lifted again, and Emperor Jing Yuan was furious, pointing at Qi Yi and saying, "Don't dare? Didn't you claim to be a good minister, and when you took the palace test, you still let go of your arrogance, saying that you would be a minister who would assist the king for a generation? Now that I've learned the tricks of those old foxes, I'm starting to tell me these unintentional words! ”

Qi Yi: "Your Majesty, what Weichen said to Your Majesty, there has never been a word against your heart. ”

"Not a word against your will?" Emperor Jing Yuan smiled: "Look at your perfunctory dead man's appearance, where is the high-spirited appearance that he made a bold statement to help me establish a hundred imperial dynasties?!" ”