I clearly wanted to be a tyrant, but how did I become the greatest emperor of all time?

Only then did Lu Weibin smile with satisfaction.

Then he said to the clerk beside him, "Go and get me a copy of the account book for the land tax."

Lu Weibin said to Gao Yao, "Master Gao, you have also heard about my plan to distribute the tax burden according to the amount of land."

"You should set an example by paying the poll tax for the 30% of the land first."

Gao Yao was about to vomit blood, but he still smiled and verified the area of the land and paid the head tax.

On the way home, Gao Yao's son asked:

"Father, do you really want to donate all the workshops and 70% of the land?"

Gao Yao panted and said, "You think I am willing? It's all for you!"

"for me?"

"I made a mistake!"

Gao Yao said: "This Lu Weibin is the emperor's man."

"He came here on a secret decree from His Majesty, and I am ridiculous for wanting to stop him."

"I took the lead in responding to him because I wanted to leave a way for the Gao family to survive!"

"If we continue to oppose His Majesty, our Gao family will be dead without a burial place!"

After saying this, Gao Yao had exhausted all his strength.

That night, the former Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Lord Gao Yao, died in his old mansion in Huajiang Prefecture.

The next day, Huajiang prefect Lu Weibin came in person to express condolences.

The imperial court also issued an edict to comfort Gao Yao's family, and posthumously conferred the title of "Jin Zhong" on Gao Yao to show recognition of Gao Yao.

In Huajiang Prefecture, there are smart people like the Gao family, but of course there are also stupid ones.

For example, the local tycoon Liu family openly obstructed the government officials from measuring the land, and even threatened to oppose Huajiang Prefecture's policy of allocating land taxes.

Lu Weibin was also ruthless.

The elite troops of Huhai Mansion directly rushed into the Liu family’s mansion and found evidence that the Liu family had harmed tenant farmers and bullied the market.

The result was that all members of the Liu family who had committed crimes were beheaded!

The Liu family's silk reeling workshop was confiscated and the land was distributed to tenant farmers.

Such a thundering move directly shocked everyone in Huajiang Prefecture.

No one dared to protest against Lu Weibin's "equalizing the land tax" anymore.

Soon the prefectural officials figured out that with the commercial tax included, Huajiang Prefecture’s taxes this year had doubled compared to last year!

Not only that, the official silk reeling workshop in Huajiang Prefecture attracted landless vagrants from many surrounding counties, which also greatly affected the economy of Huajiang Prefecture.

The newly established Huajiang Prefecture unexpectedly became the most prosperous area in Yuhang.

The people all called Lu Weibin the Great Judge.

Then, Lu Weibin established the Silk Reeling Chamber of Commerce.

Drive the entire Huajiang Prefecture to develop more gorgeous brocade silk.

He also hired brocade weaving masters from Yuhang Prefecture and Jiangnan Prefecture at high salaries.

Those wealthy people who donated their land suddenly found that they seemed to make more money by doing business with Lu Weibin!

This is a faster way to make money than exploiting those poor peasants!

And more respectable too!

In particular, the Gao family, who donated all the silk reeling workshops, followed Lu Weibin's footsteps most closely.

The Gao family took the lead in setting up a brocade weaving workshop and recruited female workers with high salaries.

Using cheap silk from the government-run silk reeling workshops, the Gao family's brocade soon became a high-end product.

Merchants from Japan and Goryeo vied with each other to buy it.

The Gao family's income has actually increased a lot compared to before!

In an instant, Huajiang Prefecture was in great order!

The Yuhang governor also quickly responded to Lu Weibin and implemented the policy of allocating land tax to each household in the entire Yuhang area.

At the same time, Li Tian’s brother-in-law Tang Yan arrived at the Xiangjiang River by boat.

Xiangjiang is a fortress in the southern part of Da Zhou.

This place was originally a gathering place for refugees from the Lingnan region.

But before the Great Zhou banned the sea, Xiangjiang was a very prosperous trading city.

Ever since the Great Zhou banned sea trade, the Xiangjiang River has been declining rapidly.

However, now that the Great Zhou has reopened its trade, the Xiangjiang River has become bustling again.

My brother-in-law Tang Yan sailed south on a sailboat.

Xiangjiang River was the last place he stopped in the Great Zhou.

Before the Great Zhou banned sea trade, there were already a few Western merchants who would occasionally come to the cities of the Great Zhou to trade.

However, once the maritime ban was introduced, these Western merchants disappeared.

When the merchants from Western countries heard the news that the Great Zhou Dynasty had resumed trade, they were all overjoyed.

Among the countries in Southeast Asia, Kalimantan and Luzon are both trading nations.

Trade with the Zhou Dynasty accounted for the majority of their total trade.

These Nanyang merchants are actually middlemen.

Before the Great Zhou Dynasty imposed a maritime ban, its products were already best-sellers in Western countries.

However, the Great Zhou rarely traded directly with these Western barbarians.

Therefore, merchants from Southeast Asia would send their goods to cities in Luzon or Kalimantan and resell them to Western merchants.

Merchants from Western countries were unable to open up direct routes.

In their eyes, Da Zhou was a rich and mysterious country.

After the Great Zhou Dynasty imposed a maritime ban, these Nanyang merchants were in trouble.

Without the goods from the Great Zhou, they could only buy inferior imitations from Japan or Goryeo and resell them.

First of all, the products of Japan and Goryeo cannot be compared with those of the Great Zhou.

Secondly, in recent years, the influence of Westerners has expanded rapidly in Southeast Asia.

The strength of the South Sea countries is not strong, and the small countries are also very loose.

Among the Western countries today, the Netherlands and England have occupied many islands in the South Pacific.

They purchased goods directly in Southeast Asia and then shipped them back to China for sale.

The spices from the Southeast Asian countries are also rare in the West.

However, after the Great Zhou Dynasty imposed a maritime ban, it was no longer possible to buy the Great Zhou Dynasty’s exquisite porcelain and unique tea.

The reopening of the maritime ban by the Great Zhou also attracted a group of Western merchants.

Tang Yan was quite interested in looking at the various sailboats at the mouth of the Xiangjiang River.

He also had another job as the Secretary of the Maritime Customs.

Tang Yan simply settled down in Xiangjiang River and established the Xiangjiang Maritime Customs Office.

To be honest, this son of the Prime Minister has no ability in imperial examinations.

However, he inherited some of his father's abilities as an official.

Tang Yan directly selected some noble boys from poor families from the students in Lingnan to work in the Maritime Customs.

During these days, Tang Yan has been maintaining correspondence with Fan Jian.

The two are of similar age and have worked together in Goryeo.

The two people with similar interests have always kept in touch.

Fan Jian’s attitude towards maritime trade is very clear, that is to impose taxes!

When Fan Jian took office as the pacification envoy of Goryeo, he figured out one thing.

That is, the land tax in the country is limited!

But commercial taxes are unlimited!

Now, the Goryeo Pacification Envoy alone relies on the three-country trade between the Great Zhou, Japan and Goryeo.

Tens of millions of taels of silver in taxes can be collected in a year!

With money, we can train a new army.

You can craft new weapons.

You can build big ships.

Therefore, Fan Jian felt that levying commercial taxes was a way to enrich the country.

Influenced by Fan Jian, Tang Yan also attached great importance to commercial taxes.

He quickly established the Maritime Customs Office on the Xiangjiang River and began to collect commercial taxes from merchant ships passing through.

Tang Yan applied the same tactics that Fan Jian used in Goryeo to Xiangjiang, and the effect was very significant.

The Xiangjiang Maritime Customs has already received the silver.

Tang Yan was very satisfied. The national treasury was full again. His Majesty must be very happy!

Tang Yan stabbed his brother-in-law in the back a little, then turned his attention to Nanyang.