I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 217 It's so long
[Frog fun, the tyrant issued an order overnight to banish Concubine Yun to the cold palace! ]

Chu Liuzheng was used to reading morning gossip to wake herself up. The first piece of gossip she saw startled her so much that she lost all her sleepiness and her eyes widened.

【It was found that Concubine Yun Xu was arrogant because of her favor, and secretly harbored evil intentions. She took medicine to fake pregnancy and falsely claimed to be the descendant of the emperor. She also faked miscarriage and framed Concubine Dou. She deceived the emperor and disturbed the palace, and was guilty of three treasons. Xu's title was stripped, demoted to a talented person, and moved to the cold palace. She was not allowed to see the emperor for life.】

After silently reciting the contents of the imperial edict in his mind, Chu Liuzheng was secretly shocked.

[Moved to the cold palace and not allowed to see the emperor for life, Concubine Yun is really finished this time. 】

She crossed out Concubine Yun from the list of enemies in her heart, but before she could feel happy, she suddenly realized a serious problem.

As the saying goes, when one enemy falls, another stands up. The imperial edict says that Concubine Dou was framed. Could it be that Concubine Dou will be restored to the throne?
If this poisonous beauty were to come back to life... Chu Liuzheng was startled and quickly pulled her away.

[Huh? Why isn't there one? Logically speaking, the two imperial edicts should have been issued at the same time.]

Chu Liuzheng felt puzzled, worried that he had missed something by flipping through the pages too quickly, so he flipped through the pages carefully several times, but still did not see the imperial edict restoring Concubine Dou.

A guess popped into her mind.

[Does the tyrant not intend to restore Concubine Dou to the throne? ]

[Well...if this is really the case, then my previous analysis was correct. The tyrant did not demote Concubine Dou because of Concubine Yun's miscarriage, but because Concubine Dou violated the tyrant's taboo, and the tyrant was taking advantage of the situation.]

Xiao Jingfan, who was doing boxing in the hall, raised his eyebrows slightly after hearing this voice, and slowed down his boxing movements.

[Speaking of which, the tyrant has imprisoned Concubine Yun for such a long time, and suddenly issued an order to demote her. This must be because there is a result with Minister Wen, right? ]

Thinking about the nonsense he told in his dream by the Immortal of the South Pole when he was in front of the emperor, Chu Liuzheng flipped back and indeed found the related gossip.

【Oh, he's using merit to atone for his crime. Wen Shangshu is also a thief. He first apologized and said that it was wrong for him to secretly communicate with King Xiao, and then he gave the draft of the tax reform he discussed with King Xiao to the tyrant for review.】

[Let me take a look... Tsk, this draft is too long. Many parts need to be considered. It is indeed a draft.]

Chu Liuzheng scrolled down, habitually extracting key information after reading the entire lengthy draft.

[In fact, to sum it up, it is to merge tax items, collect taxes in silver, survey the land, collect taxes based on the land area, and then the officials collect and pay the taxes. It's so long that it makes me dizzy just reading it.]

If taxes were not closely related to individuals, she would not have had the patience to read it to the end.

After hearing the insightful summary, Xiao Jingfan's eyes flashed with surprise. This woman could actually understand it.

He put his fist away neatly, took the handkerchief handed to him by Zhou Yuande, wiped his sweat, and ordered the meal to be served.

On the other hand, Chu Liuzheng was combining the little historical knowledge he had in his previous life with the gossip he had read in the system, and was trying to use his little brain to interpret this first draft.

Taxation is no trivial matter. If there is a scam in it, she can remind her family in her letters and make plans early.

She analyzed them one by one.

【If the tax items are merged, it will indeed simplify a lot of procedures compared to the current miscellaneous tax items, and it can also reduce the exploitation of officials at all levels, reduce the cost of taxation, and improve efficiency. 】【Taxation in silver... In simple terms, it means collecting silver instead of grain, reducing losses on the road, and directly using the collected silver to buy grain. In this way, the people will not be trapped on the land, and they may be able to free up their hands to develop business and drive economic growth. 】

Xiao Jingfan paused while drinking tea, frowned slightly, looked at the ginseng slices floating in the teacup, and listened carefully to the inner voice.

[The purpose of this regulation is to survey the land that has been concealed by landlords and gentry and not subject to tax, so as to increase the revenue of the national treasury and ensure the fairness of the "taxation of silver per acre".]

[Now, taxes are levied based on the number of people. No matter how much land you have, the more people in your family, the more taxes you pay. Some families have only one or two acres of land but have to support seven or eight people. In years of famine, many people sell their children and land, which enriches many landlords.]

Before Chu Liuzheng entered the palace, she had seen people selling their children. If she hadn't sold herself into the palace, her family wouldn't have been able to survive for long during the years when her father was missing.

There is no convenient contraceptive method in this world. As long as the couple is healthy, it is common to have two or three children. The poorer the family, the more children they have, and those who can walk have to help with work.

Chu Liuzheng also came this way.

[If the tax is levied according to the amount of land as proposed by King Xiao, the more land one has, the heavier the tax will be. This will definitely be a good thing for ordinary people. The tax burden will be reduced a lot, and they can breathe a sigh of relief.]

[Well... the tax burden on the people will be reduced, and the number of people forced to sell their land will also decrease. This will prevent the land from being concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, and to a certain extent curb land annexation. ]

Hearing this, Xiao Jingfan was no longer just surprised, he looked at Chu Liuzheng with new eyes.

Is this really a peasant girl who has not read many books and only knows a few words?

Many officials in the court may not be able to fully understand what this woman mentioned in her heart.

Chu Liuzheng didn't know how shocked the emperor was and continued his analysis.

[Officials collect and deliver taxes. The court sends people to supervise, and local officials collect and deliver taxes. There are no middlemen to make a profit, which can reduce corruption and prevent landlords and gentry from colluding with clerks to privately withhold taxes or create many other names to increase the tax burden on the people.]

[Well... generally speaking, it's a good thing that benefits the people, but...]

Chu Liuzheng read the first draft from beginning to end again and shook his head.

[Tsk tsk, this has affected so many people. If this is really implemented, the resistance... I wonder how many lives will be lost. ]

Since ancient times, there has been no reform without bloodshed, but Chu Liuzheng still felt that King Xiao and Minister Wen were too brave. With all these reforms, wouldn't they force the landlords and some officials who were too deeply involved in their own interests to rebel?

The current prosperous country cannot afford such turmoil.

Moreover, from Chu Liuzheng's point of view, there are many areas in this draft that need to be refined.

[This is too general. The situation in each place is different. If we take regional differences into consideration... Tsk, it's difficult! ]

Chu Liuzheng felt his scalp tingling just thinking about how many things needed to be detailed. Wouldn't this tire a few people out?
[The rule of levying silver based on the acreage alone can be refined a lot. Since the main purpose is to reduce taxes for the poor and curb the powerful from annexing land, it can be levied according to the social status.

For example, there are five or six levels. The more land you own, the higher your level is, and the more tax you have to pay. If you want to pay less tax, you have to control the amount of land you own. 】

[Of course, land surveying must be strictly enforced, and the fish scale register must be updated from time to time. For example, there should be a small random check every three years, a large random check every five years, and a unified check every ten years. If anyone is found to have hidden land, they will be punished according to the number of acres of land that exceeds the limit, and the punishment should be heavier, so as to serve as a warning to others.]