A lucky wife born again from a farm family

According to the thinking of the adults in the capital, the two cities near Zhongzhou near Jianghuai will be the first to get into trouble with the tax issue.

However, it was Zhili who was the first to cause chaos.

Zhili is at the foot of the emperor and next to the capital. The emperor and the adults all feel that the people in Zhili are rich and can pay double taxes. At most, they can only sell a few acres of land, and nothing big will go wrong.

But the emperor and the adults had no idea that the land in Zhili had long been taken over by relatives of the emperor, nobles and high-ranking officials. The common people did not have much land in their hands. In addition, the anti-war tax of one tael of silver per person made it even more difficult. Adding insult to injury.

And this is only the summer tax, and there are autumn taxes in October. The poor people in Zhili are desperate. Many people in their forties have sold themselves and no one wants them. In order to let their families pay less tax, they actually They committed suicide together.

In one village in Zhili alone, more than thirty people committed suicide in this way, and almost all the elderly in the village died, just to save their share of taxes for their families.

The remaining girls who were able to sell their bodies were all sold. They paid less tax and could also get money for their families. Although their net worth was as low as one tael, and the younger girl only had five hundred coins. But as long as someone buys them, they can survive.

When the emperor and the adults in the capital heard about this, they were horrified.

In addition to being frightened, the emperor was also angry. He was so angry that he overturned the table and immediately issued an order to punish several adults in Zhili. He also called several elders into the palace overnight and cursed them, blaming them. Things went wrong, and something that went against the harmony of heaven happened to the emperor!

Mr. Shangguange and the others are having a big headache. When you said you would charge double taxes, we already warned you that this would cause serious trouble. You didn't listen, and now you are blaming us for the death?

The other four ministers always immediately apologized to the emperor: "Your Majesty, please calm down. It is the veterans who have done something bad. Please punish me!"

With a clang, Emperor Jingyuan smashed the cup, pointed at them and cursed: "It's such a cliché again. If something goes wrong, you will only apologize and let me calm down. Don't you have anything else useful to say?!"

Yes, I told you, but you didn’t listen.

Mr. Shangguange sighed and said to Emperor Jingyuan: "Your Majesty, the old people in the village committed suicide thinking that they could save taxes for their families. It's just a small thing. The people who should be wary of most now are the people in the military camp, those who are soldiers." All of them have families, and if their families cannot afford to pay taxes, they will most likely...reverse."

This was what Emperor Jing Yuan was most worried about. His face turned dark when he heard this, but thinking that Wei Guogong's line had been eliminated and the other commanders had nothing to fear, he wasn't so worried.

However, he did not want to lead a rebellion, so he said: "I will personally issue an imperial edict to exempt those who have soldiers in their families from half of the taxes."

When he said this, Emperor Jingyuan's heart was bleeding. Da Chu conquered the world immediately, and had been contending with Da Rong for many years. There were many soldiers, and half of the tax for those who had soldiers in their families was not a small sum.

Mr. Shangguan Ge frowned and said again: "Your Majesty, the army will be sent out to conquer the Rong in the near future. Now is the time to use the army. It is better to exempt all the taxes of those who have soldiers in their families. In this way, the soldiers will definitely be grateful for the emperor's favor. , when fighting against the Rong people, they will definitely be more brave."

Emperor Jingyuan refused: "To march and fight, we need money to support it. There are so many soldiers in Chu. If the taxes of the soldiers' families are completely exempted, where will the money come from for fighting? Will the beloved ministers provide it? Or will it be from the wealthy families?"

After saying that, he sneered twice and stared at the five pavilion elders in the hall with sinister eyes like an eagle.

Among the five pavilion elders, the expressions of four of them changed. These four were all descendants of aristocratic families. They did not try their best to stop the tax issue because they were afraid that Emperor Jingyuan would take action against the wealthy family if he could not get the money.

During the period of Emperor Jingwu, the wealthy families had been killed and half of their homes had been confiscated. There were not many left. They could not let all the wealthy families fall into the hands of Emperor Jingwu's ancestors and grandsons.

When Emperor Jingyuan saw that they were silent, he sneered and said, "I know that you all have worked hard, but regarding the tax this time, I have been very tolerant. There has been no increase in taxes in the northwest, northeast, and Zhongzhou. , are all prosperous towns, if the taxes cannot be collected, I will wonder if there is a giant rat in the prosperous town of Dachu?"

The most prosperous place in Dachu is Jiangnan. Since the war in the previous dynasty, many aristocratic families have moved to Jiangnan to avoid the war, and they have set up many properties in Jiangnan. It is not an exaggeration to say that the aristocratic families are the local emperors of Jiangnan. .

And the Shuo Shu from a prosperous land who prevented him from collecting taxes was what Emperor Jing Yuan mentioned, referring to the aristocratic families entrenched in the south of the Yangtze River.

The elder Shangguan Ge broke into cold sweat. He knelt down with several elders and said: "Your Majesty is kind and loved by all the ministers and people. The purpose of collecting taxes is to attack Da Rong and avenge the people of Da Chu." , the people are naturally willing to donate generously."

Emperor Jingyuan smiled: "In that case, all dear friends, please go down and do your business. Keep an eye on the military camps everywhere and make sure no other troubles occur, otherwise..."

Don't blame him for imitating his imperial grandfather and killing rich families to get money!

"I obey the order." Mr. Shangguange and the others hurriedly retreated. After leaving the Mingwei Hall, they all wiped cold sweat.

Emperor Jingyuan was really ruthless. Emperor Jingwu killed the wealthy families because he did not want the court to be controlled by the wealthy families, and Emperor Jingyuan killed the wealthy families purely to fill the treasury.

In addition to killing wealthy families, Emperor Jingyuan also loved to kill the founding nobles. He almost wiped out the founding nobles who were armed with heavy troops. Those who were obedient had to put their daughters and granddaughters into the harem to show their loyalty.

The thoughts of several pavilion elders: The founding of the country has only lasted for three generations, and with such arrogant methods, I am afraid it will be over.

Qi Yi stood outside the Mingwei Hall and waited for several pavilion elders to leave before returning to the Mingwei Hall.

In the Mingwei Palace, the eunuchs and maids were gently cleaning up the smashed things. After a short time, they were cleaned up. After Qi Yi bowed to Emperor Jingyuan, he returned to his table and continued to give Jingyuan something. Emperor Yuan wrote the imperial edict.

When Emperor Jingyuan saw him, he frowned and asked with anger in his voice: "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

In the past, when people saw such things, wouldn't they always advise him to calm down and not act impulsively?

Now mute?

Or do you think he is hopeless? !

When Qi Yi heard this, he did not raise his head, but lowered his head, turned towards Emperor Jingyuan, and said respectfully: "I don't dare."

With a bang, the table that the eunuchs had just cleared was overturned again. Emperor Jingyuan was furious, pointed at Qi Yi and said: "Don't you dare? You don't consider yourself a good minister. During the palace examination, you even made bold statements, saying that you would be an assistant to the king. The minister of the brachial crotch? Now he has learned the tricks of those old foxes and started telling me these unfaithful words to deal with!"

Qi Yi: "Your Majesty, I have never spoken against your will."

"Not a single word against your will?" Emperor Jingyuan smiled: "Look at your perfunctory appearance. How can you still show your high-spirited appearance when you made bold promises to help me establish a century-old dynasty?!"