Seeing Lu Yuanwu sitting in a daze, his eyes straight as if he was wandering out of the world, Zhang Cang reminded,

"The queen is not leaving? If I delay any longer, I'll have to take back that auspicious seal. ”

"Oh, oh, okay, I'm going to see the horses,"

Lu Yuan came back to her senses and smiled embarrassedly, she thought that if she could consult the prime minister more about everything, she would make fewer mistakes after all, so she asked humbly,

"Ask the Prime Minister, when it comes to Zhending, what else do we need to pay special attention to?"

"It's not in the way, it's not in the way, Zhang Lin is here in everything, don't worry too much."

Zhang Cang got up and sent her out of the side hall, and suddenly said,

"By the way, you can't take pears for nothing, you have to give money.

Those ancient trees are rare in the world, and the annual income from pears is also considerable. If you want to make it a royal private property, or use it for another purpose, then you must give money.

Otherwise, just based on Zhang Lin's official reputation as clear as water, he will definitely compensate the people out of his own pocket, wouldn't that kill him? ”

"Don't worry, you won't be able to break the bank with this good county order,"

Lu Yuan pulled out his legs and walked in the direction of the official stable, and said aloud without looking back,

"The queen mother said that the world was first decided, and it was never possible to compete with the people for profit, and I remember it firmly.

I have already thought about it, and as soon as my people are really decided, I will gather all the old people over the age of 60 in the county together and set up a 'banquet for the elderly', and every family will give them generous gifts, just taking the opportunity to inquire more about the story of Qin Shi.

As for those old trees, we will only pick a few fruits every year, and the rest of the pears will still be distributed to the elderly, or sold in the market.

The pears that honor the queen must be sold at a good price, and they can be regarded as doing a practical thing for the local area. ”

***

"It's better to be happy alone than to be happy with all, and to do good deeds is to do what you can."

Zhang Cang said leisurely, a little gloating,

"Although your idea is not bad, it's just that I estimate that Your Majesty has taken the road from our country to level Zang Di, in order to reward the people of Zhao, when I meet you this time, I will order King Zhao to reduce the tax."

Listening to this abrupt sentence, Lu Yuan stood still, not knowing what to do, and only looked at the prime minister suspiciously,

"I mean, there's no money in the treasury to give you a banquet to honor the elderly, and you don't want to talk to me about the treasury.

Even your Shaofu's income in the coming year, after I pinch my fingers, will be reduced by at least five or six percent. ”

Speaking of wealth, this is one of Zhang Cang's best skills, he seems to be smiling on his face, and he actually calculates accounts with Lu Yuan seriously.

Lu Yuan rolled her eyes, although she didn't know how many households there were in Zhending County, but there were only a few thousand households on the left. After years of war, there are not too many old people left in the county.

Therefore she boldly accepted it,

"Prime Minister rest assured, this money doesn't even need to be alarmed by Shaofu, my private money is enough, and I will never ask you for half a copper tin."

After she praised Haikou, she pondered that Zhang Cang had something to say, so she re-typed his words word by word in her heart, and then raised her head and asked hesitantly,

"The Tian Fu of Zhao is the same as that of all parts of the imperial court, which is fifteen and one tax. Even if it is reduced, this will be owned by the national treasury, and it will not affect the income of the Shaofu.

As for the money, it is currently one hundred and twenty yuan per person per year, which is also the same as the counties under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

This money will go into Shaofu, will it be reduced a lot? ”

Counting money, that is, calculating endowment, is the head levied according to the person. At that time, between the ages of fifteen and fifty-six, commoners were required to pay an annual fee of 120 yuan[1].

***

And the official position of "Shaofu" in their mouths has a long history, and according to legend, it can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty.

At the latest, during the Warring States period, the imperial courts of various countries set up this institution to control the economy and intervene in finances. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han court imitated the shape of the Qin Dynasty, and there was also a Shaofu Division in the central Jiuqing.

The affairs under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu are numerous and all-encompassing, including the management of various revenues and expenditures of the imperial family, that is, the management of the private support of the imperial family.

In other words, the finances of the central court were strictly separated from those of the royal family, and the Shaofu, that is, the private account of the royal family.

The official positions and responsibilities set up in each kingdom were similar to those of the central government, so there was also a Shaofu in the Zhao Kingdom, which was in charge of all the financial revenues and expenditures of the Zhao royal family.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Qin system was inherited, and the income of the Shaofu and the royal family was mainly the three taxes of the mountains and seas and ponds of the counties directly under the central government, the calculation of taxes and the city rent;

For the vassal states with different surnames whose wealth is not handed over to the central government, the income of the royal family also includes these three items.

As soon as Lu Yuanfu heard that the income of Zhao Guoshao's Mansion would drop sharply, he simply thought that the bulk of the reduction would naturally come from the calculation of endowments.

Because, the so-called benefits of mountains and seas and ponds are mainly taxes on the income from fish, salt, forests and other incomes from the mountains and seashores;

And Zhao Di is not like Qi Land, this place is not coastal, no salt production, the benefits of the mountains and seas and ponds are few, but the population is large, and the annual harvest is quite rich.

It's just that she didn't know that when her uncle Lu Shizhi was in Handan, he had walked through the large and small markets in Handan City one by one and interviewed them carefully.

***

At that time, after his visit, he casually commented with Zhang Cang that the market rent was one hundred and two, some high, and if he could make more profits, it would definitely make the trade more prosperous and hide the wealth of the people.

City rent, that is, the market transaction tax levied by the government on merchants. The traditional culture of Zhao is profit-seeking and merchant-oriented, and there are many markets here, merchants are everywhere, the traffic is busy, and the trade is extremely developed.

In order to collect market rent more conveniently, the officials who manage the market usually collect 1002 of the amount of goods brought into the market by the merchants.

These words, the two of them said a few months ago, and they left them behind after speaking, but when they settled accounts with Lu Yuan, Zhang Cang's mind moved, and his mind involuntarily calculated-

The scale of Zhang Ao's palace is not large, and the weekday expenses are far from extravagant, and everyone's food and drink are just repaid, even if the income of the Shaofu is reduced, they will not be wronged.

However, the kingdom's Shaofu is actually responsible for many key functions such as weapon storage, rewarding ministers, coinage, and military expenses.

He muttered,

"If the market rent is reduced to 101 or even lower in the future, then the income of Shaofu will be very different from what it is now."

If this is the case, I wonder if King Zhao can be willing? Can the other old ministers of Zhao be willing?

Suddenly a cold wind blew, and Lu Yuan shivered slightly,

"—Will he listen to his father's arrangement?"

Zhang Cang looked at her and stopped talking.

If Lu Xuan, the most subservient king of Xinyan, and Wu Chen, the king of Changsha, or even other princes and kings obeyed Liu Ji's edict, would King Zhao rashly raise an army to resist at this moment, because of a little financial loss?

Could this be the opportunity that King Zhao has always been looking forward to?

Or will this be the move that touches Zhao Guo's bottom line?

Zhang Cang was a young man with early wisdom, and he had seen countless careerists who looked at the wolf in the palace of the First Emperor.

He used experience and intuition to tell himself that it would not be now, Zhang Ao and his group were buried so deep and so bitter, what they were pursuing must be an arrow with one blow.