The wife is the king of the palace

Jin Qi looked at the fish in the small pot and was very worried, afraid that it was really cooked, but the stupid fat fish in the water flicked its tail and vomited a big bubble.

"This world is the emperor's world, how the emperor wants the ministers to obey, and what is wrong with the emperor?" Lin Xu put down his chopsticks.

When Jin Qi heard this, he immediately wanted to ask, since he was not wrong, why did he cook his fish?But he swallowed the words again, don't mess with anyone, don't mess with this person, if you really want to mess with it, probably his pond of dragon carp is not enough for this person to eat.

"You obediently come to the morning court tomorrow." Jin Qi walked out the door with the pot in his hand, wanting to save his treasure from the hot pot quickly.

"Stop." Lin Xu's faint voice made Jin Qi's scalp tingle, and he turned around with eyes full of wariness, but the pot in his hand was gripped even tighter.

"Leave the pot." Lin Xu looked at the pot in Jin Qi's hand.

"I'll pay you back tomorrow!" Jin Qi gritted his teeth and left the door with the pot in his arms.

Seeing Jin Qi fleeing away, Lin Xu got up and straightened his clothes, and walked towards the study with his hands behind his back.

He loves calligraphy and painting very much, and has collected many ancient books and masterpieces of famous masters, all of which are placed in this study room. If he is in a good mood on weekdays, he will come here to read and appreciate.

After entering the study, Lin Xu walked forward along the bookshelves, and when he stopped, he happened to be standing next to the two books that Jin Qi had touched before.All the ancient books in the study were placed and arranged by him himself, and he could tell at a glance whether they had been touched by someone.

Lin Xu raised his hand to put the book away, recalling the look of Jin Qi holding the pot with his face full of vigilance in his movements, his eyebrows instantly melted like snow, and a smile appeared on his face.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, and the most difficult thing about transporting weapons is the preparations at the beginning. Before that, things went smoothly.

Although due to the continuous heavy rain upstream, some parts of the downstream river channel were flooded over the river bank, but fortunately, there was no phenomenon of embankment failure and stagnation.The front camp also successfully set up barriers to retrieve weapons, and the emergency collection of grain and grass also went smoothly.

With the weapons and food in place, tens of thousands of soldiers in the front camp successfully intercepted the frequent attacks of Xia's enemy troops.

At the same time, General Ghost Mian, the border general guarding the border, gave up the long-distance march to rescue, and instead directly led troops to raid the Xia Guo camp. A move to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao directly forced the intercepted Xia Guo army to withdraw troops quickly to protect themselves.

After everyone waited in fear for nearly half a month, the urgent letter on the battle situation at the border was sent to the palace.Knowing that the overall situation was settled, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

It's just that the battle situation here is stable, but the matter is not over yet.

In the Jinluan Hall, after the battle at the border was reported, all the officials were in a commotion, and they were about to shout for the emperor's sage, but Wan Yu, the minister of the household department, had already stood up with a mournful face.

The delivery of weapons this time can be described as a big fight, and the Ministry of Household Affairs, the local army, county governments, the Ministry of Industry, and the warlord are all involved.Now that the matter is over, all departments are back to their respective positions.The Ministry of Household Affairs is in direct chaos, for no other reason than because the treasury is empty.

Not to mention, after this time, he even owed the military funds of the front camp and the weapon fees of Changle Province, which can be described as worse.

"I know that the emperor loves the people like a son, and he doesn't want to raise taxes to make the people suffer. But emptying the national treasury is not a solution. I ask the emperor to make up his mind as soon as possible." Wan Yu handed over the note, which is the amount owed by the treasury now. accounts.

The chief eunuch presented the notebook to Jin Qi, and after Jin Qi flipped through it casually, a solemn expression appeared on his deep-lined face.

"How can you owe so much?" Jin Qi asked.

This battle will definitely cost money, Jin Qi has long been prepared for this, but he never thought it would be so much.

When talking about money, Jin Qi did not forget to glance at the person standing beside him without changing his face, he already had some psychological shadows.

"Returning to the emperor, the weapons transported to the border this time are all directly transferred from the place of origin and not purchased by the treasury, plus the emergency collection of food and grass and military funds required for the reconstruction of the camp. This is the number. And the weapons transported before According to the regulations of Dayu, part of the subsidy should be given afterwards.”

Jin Qi glanced at the accounts on the booklet again, and the chief eunuch took the booklet and handed it to Lin Xu who is the prime minister and Xu Lan who is known as the grand tutor.

"This number is no longer a small number, what can all the lovers do?" Jin Qi asked.

All the officials looked at each other in blank dismay. After a while, a few people spoke, but it was nothing more than an increase in land tax.

Farming taxes have always been one of the main sources of income for the treasury. Now that the treasury is short of money, the only way everyone can think of is to increase taxes.

Recalling the old story, the few people who were called to the imperial study room to discuss matters, like the people on the dragon chair, all looked at Lin Xu nervously. They lost their salaries because of Lin Xu before, so why should they be asked again now? Post it once?

Everyone was tense, but Jin Qi showed signs of letting go, "It's not impossible to increase taxes. Only the southwest has suffered from drought, so it must not be moved. The provinces near the border camps were urgently levied grain and grass, and they cannot be moved. This tax Where do you want to increase it?"

Everyone was taken aback when they heard that Jinqi had let go, thinking that Jinqi had changed his mind, but then they all realized that the rest of the places except these two places were not lucrative, and even if the tax was increased, they would not be able to collect much.

Dayu is considered wealthy among the nearby countries, but Dayu did not become rich by farming, but by iron, stone and other products.

The crops are only sufficient for the hard soil of Dayu. In case of natural disasters, it is even necessary to open trade channels to nearby neighboring countries to buy grain.Among them, the two places with the highest grain production are the two places that cannot be moved at all.

"This..." Everyone hesitated.

Dayu mainly made a living by mining iron ore, and was among the best in the nearby countries in terms of weapon manufacturing, and it was precisely because of this that it was able to support an army of hundreds of thousands.If you switch to other countries, this batch of weapons and armor alone is enough to cause headaches.

However, the mining of iron ore in Dayu has been strictly controlled, and it is basically a model of government-business cooperation for foreign contracting. Those that can be collected have already been collected, and there is no money left.

There is no prospect of agricultural tax, and there is no lucrative water for iron ore mining. Smarter people almost immediately thought of the last possibility, collecting business tax.

Dayu's agriculture is not well developed, but its advantage is that it is rich in ores and other products, so there are countless vendors.

It's just that although there are many vendors, the business tax is not easy to collect.On the one hand, traders are not as easy to control as farming, and on the other hand, it is also because many people in the court have contacts with wealthy businessmen and the like.

As an official in the court, even if the official is below the third rank, the monthly salary is deducted from the daily expenses of the servants. If he is not corrupt and bribery, it is almost impossible to become rich and powerful.

Although the power is in hand, but in real comparison, life is far less comfortable than that of many wealthy businessmen.

Therefore, collusion between government and businessmen has always existed. If you do something convenient for me, I will also benefit you. As long as it is not a big evil, there is never a shortage of people who are willing to do so.

The first emperor also tried to think about commercial taxation, but he failed, just because mobilizing commercial tax was tantamount to mobilizing the interests of all officials in the court.Even once this topic is brought up, hundreds of officials will immediately oppose it.

Seeing that the topic was about to turn to business and taxation, the court was silent, and no one seemed to have thought of this.

Faced with the sudden silence, Jin Qi was not surprised, "What else can you do? Feel free to ask."

Jin Qi has long intended to increase business taxes, but he also knows the difficulties involved, so the previous salary matter, and even the emptiness of the national treasury were all intentional, because otherwise, all the officials in the court would definitely oppose it. .

The attack on the border this time helped him a lot, otherwise the national treasury would not be easily in debt, and he naturally could not find a reason to raise the business tax.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Jin Qi looked at Xu Lan and Lin Xu who were beside him.Both of them are people with clear minds, so they naturally understand why there is such silence, and they also understand Jin Qi's meaning instantly.

Just as Lin Xu was about to speak, Su Fanyi, the silent minister of the Ministry of Industry, said first, "I think we can use two approaches to increase income from both farming and mining."

As soon as Su Fanyi said these words, the officials who had just been silent immediately echoed.As long as it doesn't touch their money, everything is fine.

"My minister thinks that increasing business tax is the best way." Lin Xu calmly interrupted the approval of the officials.

As soon as Lin Xu said this, all the officials were silent, and their expressions were extremely exciting.

"Oh? Talk about it."

"The treasury problem is no longer a matter of a day or two. If it cannot be completely resolved, it will inevitably happen again. There are only two ways to completely solve the treasury problem. One is to return the troops to the people and reduce the main expenditure of the treasury."

"Xia Guo is eyeing a tiger and invades from time to time, so it is absolutely impossible to return the troops to the people." Su Fanyi said immediately.The matter of weapons has just passed, and all the officials still have lingering fears.

"Then ensure the annual income of the treasury." Lin Xu said again.

After his words fell, there was another silence.

In the past, everyone would definitely rise up to refute, but when there was an attack on the frontier after the incident of salary, it was a matter of their own interests and lives, so even if they had a disagreement in their hearts, they would not dare to speak up easily.

Lin Xu didn't finish talking, he still had that unhurried tone, but what he said made the faces of all civil and military officials in the court as black as coal.

He said: "If you don't collect business taxes, you can just do both. However, judging from the current situation, there must be deficiencies. I'm afraid we will have to reduce expenditures. It's just that there is no room for reduction in the palace..."

After finishing speaking, Lin Xu looked quietly at Baiguan, and the implication behind the words was self-evident.Jin Qi, as the emperor, set an example by shrinking his clothing and dieting, so it is naturally impossible for all officials to stay out of it.

Hearing this, the officials who had been determined just now immediately wavered. Is this to let them out?

"Business and tax matters are not impossible." Wan Yu, who had just lost his salary earlier, gritted his teeth.

Although commercial taxation will also involve hundreds of officials, it does not directly affect their interests. There is absolutely no need for them to lose their salaries for the benefit of others.

After figuring this out, all the officials immediately became active and discussed how to increase their income.

Jin Qi, who saw everything in his eyes, looked as cold as ice, but there was still a faint smile on his mouth, as if he hadn't premeditated and deliberately done all this.

Thinking of this, Jin Qi couldn't help looking at Lin Xu who was on the side. If Lin Xu hadn't planned to deduct his daily expenses from him in order to involve the matter of salary and put everyone in the group at risk, this plan might not have been implemented so smoothly.

Jin Qi was grateful in his heart, but his heart skipped a beat when he met Lin Xu's eyes, just because of the clarity in Lin Xu's eyes.

The moment he met Lin Xu's gaze, Jin Qi even had an absurd feeling that he had already been seen through, as if even the previous deduction of daily expenses was just intentional on his part.

Jin Qi took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and was about to let go of the absurd thoughts in his mind, when he saw a bit of a playful smile in Lin Xu's dark eyes.

Jin Qi was convinced almost immediately that this person had already guessed his intentions, but he deliberately didn't talk about watching the show.

At that moment Jin Qi couldn't help gnashing his teeth, he suddenly had the illusion that this person was a fox turned into a spirit.At the same time, a sense of powerlessness and frustration also grew in his heart, and there was always nothing he could do about this person.