The Tang Dynasty: Wu Zetian made me her imperial tutor

A cool breeze was blowing through the Xianju Palace.

As Lu Jun explained how to deal with powerful clans, the maids fanned themselves diligently and listened intently.

When it came to policy strategies, they were completely bewildered, tilting their heads and not quite understanding for a long time.

Although Wan'er was intelligent, she lacked Wu Zetian's years of experience in assisting the government and ruling from behind the curtain, and she was also a step behind. It wasn't until Lu Jun brought up tax reform that she suddenly realized what was going on...

"Chu Yu's vision is truly far-sighted!"

"Since the advantages of powerful clans cannot be eradicated, we simply ignore them and instead expand the advantages of the imperial court itself."

"As long as Huainan and Jiangnan are developed well, the imperial court will be much less dependent on powerful clans and will be able to deal with the situation more easily."

"Although Emperor Yang of Sui valued the Jiangnan region, he mismanaged it, and the Grand Canal became a gift left to the Tang Dynasty."

"Although some people later suggested developing Jiangnan, they didn't explain it as thoroughly as they did, and there was no such proactive plan."

"Chu Yu is indeed Chu Yu; in terms of foresight and insight, even the current prime minister cannot compare to him!"

He felt a sense of pride, and a smile quietly crept onto his lips.

Thump, thump, thump—

At this moment, light footsteps came from outside the hall, and a woman in a pale yellow silk dress rushed into the Xianju Palace.

Princess Taiping looked anxious and rushed into the palace without waiting for a summons, shouting as she ran:

"Mother, Lingnan is a place where criminals are exiled and disgraced officials are demoted. Lu Chuyu has just been promoted; how can we send him there?"

"He's doing a great job as the Left Advisor, offering many good suggestions and advice. He should stay by Mother's side and offer his advice!"

"Why send only him when so many other ministers are leaving? Mother is being unfair to him!"

She wore light makeup today, and as she ran in the sweltering heat, the makeup faded slightly under the sweat, revealing her smooth, delicate skin, with glistening, fragrant beads of sweat.

Only after finishing speaking did she notice Lu Jun's presence. She was startled at first, then immediately knelt beside him and said to her mother:

"Has Mother already made her decision?"

"The memorial has only just been submitted; isn't this all too hasty?"

"My daughter thinks it's inappropriate!"

Beneath her pale yellow silk skirt, two mounds of snow rose and fell with her rapid breathing, her speech growing faster and faster.

Wan'er, seeing this from the side, was very displeased: "Lu Chuyu isn't yours, would it kill you to speak slower?!"

Remembering that Li Lingyue was skilled at using soft words and seduction, and had been married before, and was bold, unrestrained, and charming in that area, making her most attractive to men, she secretly bit her lip.

The fact that they were so eager to speak up for Lu Jun shows that they must often meet privately and be very affectionate with each other.

Maybe they're already... Hmph!

At first, he was extremely annoyed, but then he suddenly realized that the princess's reaction was very disadvantageous to Lu Jun.

In the Empress Dowager's view, Lu Jun must have had an unusual relationship with the princess, which was why the princess rushed over to dissuade her...

Wan'er quickly shook her head at Li Lingyue, but Li Lingyue ignored her and kept talking incessantly.

Lu Jun glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and knew she couldn't stop the princess, so she simply kept quiet and let her speak.

Wu Zetian glared at her daughter: "Who told you about this? I just saw the memorial!"

Li Lingyue was prepared and replied, "Didn't Mother ask someone to recommend a capable official? I heard someone say it publicly..."

Wu Zetian didn't want to deal with family matters in front of outsiders, so she put on a stern face and gave a heavy snort:

"I'll teach you a lesson later!"

"I ask you, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Who said going to Lingnan is an exile? It's not like being appointed to a local post. The Censor is my special envoy, a prestigious position that many people would kill for. Would you really stoop to such a lowly position?"

Li Lingyue stood up with a smile and walked up the steps to massage her mother's shoulders: "There's miasma there, who would want to go!"

"He's a young man, healthy and strong, and he's here to share the burdens of the emperor. Can't he even endure this little bit of hardship?" Wu Zetian retorted.

"You two are arguing, can you please stop commenting on my physique..." Lu Jun thought to herself.

Li Lingyue explained, "What I mean is that Mother needs more capable people around her, so there's no need for him to go..."

"Did I send him?" Wu Zetian asked again.

Li Lingyue was taken aback: "Then now it's...?"

He kept pestering his mother for answers and then sought confirmation from Lu Jun before he finally understood what had happened.

She immediately smiled broadly, patted her chest, and said, "You should have said so earlier. I came to Shangyang Palace to visit my mother. Since everything is alright, I will take my leave now."

She gestured towards Lu Jun with her lips, her eyes seeming to speak volumes: "You owe me another favor~"

Pretending nothing was wrong, she pinched her mother's shoulder twice before tiptoeing away to avoid punishment.

Wu Zetian reached out to stop her: "Wait!"

"A few days ago you proposed to revive the horse administration and reform the imperial examination system, and I praised and rewarded you for that."

"I thought you'd made great progress, so why do you seem so clueless when you hear about this?"

"They don't even discuss whether recommending Chu Yu is appropriate, or whether his abilities and qualifications are up to the task; they just spout these irrelevant things."

"You're getting married soon, so be careful what you do and don't give people cause for gossip!"

Li Lingyue said "Oh," and blinked:

"My daughter has only met Lu Chuyu a few times. She admires his talent and just wants to make the best use of him, Mother."

"The fact that he volunteered to search for the runaway households in Yongzhou shows that my daughter has a good eye for people!"

"Mother asked me to discuss state affairs with Wen Guozheng, and I offered suggestions. Is there any problem with that?"

She couldn't express her intention to win him over, and she wasn't afraid that saying she admired his talent would be interpreted as liking him.

Anyway, her mother didn't mind her having a lover, and it wasn't surprising that she would develop feelings for Lu Jun, who was young and handsome.

Wu Zetian waved her hand: "Alright, don't leave. Since you're here, listen to what's going on."

Such was the custom in the Tang Dynasty: if men could take concubines, princesses could naturally also keep male lovers. As long as she didn't take Lu Jun too seriously, expressing her affections was no big deal.

Besides, my daughter's hobby is also a source of my happiness...

She had Li Lingyue attend to her and said to Lu Jun:

"You also mentioned tax reform in your policy document. I remember you said that it was for the future and there was no need to rush it."

"Therefore, I haven't had time to think about it carefully these past few days. Now that it's been brought up, I might as well elaborate."

Lu Jun nodded:

"Your Majesty, this matter is indeed not something that can be rushed."

"Throughout history, the most difficult reform has been taxation, because it involves fundamental interests and is bound to encounter enormous resistance."

"I suggest that this be implemented gradually and in stages only after Huainan and Jiangnan have been fully developed and their dependence on powerful clans has decreased."

"Simply put, the rent, labor service, and tax system, as well as various miscellaneous taxes, were defined as three types: household tax, land tax, and commercial tax."

"Household tax is calculated based on the number of people; the more people there are, the more they have to pay."

"Land tax is calculated based on acreage. The more land one occupies, the more rent one has to pay. This way, large households cannot acquire land for free, but instead have to pay rent based on the number of people in their household."

"The commercial tax was aimed at merchants. Previously, merchants did not pay taxes, which greatly helped the flow of goods, but it was unfair to farmers."

"I suggest that a tax be levied on the annual income of merchants, and it need not be too high, one-thirtieth of the income would be sufficient, which is equivalent to the land rent."

"It takes into account both fairness and excessive suppression of business."

This plan became known as the Two-Tax System in later generations.

At this time, the tax system was called the rent, labor, and tax system.

The rent was for land, and each adult male was required to pay two shi of millet.

The tax was levied on mulberry and hemp, with each household paying two zhang of silk and three liang of cotton, or two zhang and five chi of cloth and three jin of hemp.

"Yong" refers to "paying silk in lieu of corvée labor". Normally, each adult male could pay silk in lieu of 20 days of corvée labor, which was called "yong".

The land rent, labor service, and tax system seemed good, but in reality it was very crude and extremely dependent on the equal-field system.

However, the equal-field system of the Tang Dynasty was never strictly implemented according to the land decree, nor was it ever truly put into practice.

The premise of the equal-field system is that all land in the country is nationalized and distributed uniformly, which is impossible unless there is a complete revolution and the country has absolute power.

When the Tang Dynasty was founded, some farmland left over from wars was indeed recovered by the state and distributed to the people.

According to the system, adult males and middle-aged males could be allocated 80 mu of land and 20 mu of permanent land, but that was the practice in a few lenient villages.

As early as the beginning of the Zhenguan era, the two capitals, Henan, and Hebei were already unable to allocate enough land.

In practice, the amount of land granted was set as the upper limit, and land was granted at a discount, often under the name of "perpetual land".

Since the land could not be fully allocated anyway, the common people naturally preferred permanent land and disliked the subdivided land that needed to be reclaimed.

Therefore, the law prohibiting the sale of land became a dead letter, and land consolidation became inevitable whenever there was a natural disaster or a evasion of corvée labor.

As mergers and acquisitions increased, powerful clans, based on their official ranks, became exempt from taxes, leaving the burden of rent, labor service, and taxes on small, self-sufficient farmers.

If reforms are not implemented by then, the imperial court will collapse.

The Tang Dynasty began to take shape during the reign of Emperor Daizong, and the Two-Tax System was officially implemented during the reign of Emperor Dezong, presided over by Yang Yan, and lasted for a thousand years.

Lu Jun made some choices, removing the part about "paying taxes in cash instead of grain and silk" because the time was not right.

At this time, the supply of copper coins was extremely insufficient, and rashly using money to pay taxes would trigger severe deflation.

The common people did not have enough money, so they had to sell their cloth and grain at low prices to pay taxes, which forced them to increase their burden.

Some parts were removed, and some were added.

"To avoid exacerbating mergers under the new tax system, I propose narrowing the scope of tax-exempt households and reducing the treatment of gentry."

"Tax exemptions were limited based on official rank and title, including the amount of land and people exempted. For example, a first-rank official was exempted from taxation for 60 hectares and 100 people, while a lower-ranking official was exempted from taxation for 50 hectares and 80 people..."

"In the past, powerful clans could freely absorb refugees, but under this method, it would be useless to absorb them."

"Acquiring land would incur higher land taxes, and absorbing migrants would incur higher household taxes, so people would be hesitant to do so."

The policy of limiting land and population based on rank was implemented after Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty and was a reasonable supplement to the Two-Tax System.

Every tax system has loopholes. The landlords in Jiangnan during the Ming Dynasty were shrewd and devised numerous tax evasion tricks, but that's another story.

At this moment, we can only take care of what's in front of us.

Li Lingyue, who had been diligently attending to state affairs lately, listened attentively and immediately raised a question:

"Chu Yu, aren't household tax and land tax already in place?"

"Moreover, the household tax was very extensive, and even I had to pay it. The land tax was also collected based on the amount of land."

"Aside from commercial taxes, what's the essential difference between this and what you're saying? If we remove rents and taxes, wouldn't the imperial court have even less revenue?"

The household tax system of the Tang Dynasty began during the reign of Emperor Gaozu (Wu De era). The population was divided into three classes, with a major tax every three years and a minor tax every year. During the Zhenguan era, it was changed to nine classes, including princes and nobles.

The land tax was proposed by Dai Zhou and others in the second year of the Zhenguan era. The people were required to pay two liters of millet per mu (unit of land area).

Therefore, Li Lingyue could neither understand what was new about it, nor could she understand why the rent and tax system was being abolished.

Wu Zetian was secretly pleased: "Taiping is very intelligent; she's not just thinking about romantic love..."

With a puzzled look on his face, he looked at Lu Jun.