Madam, protect me!

After leaving Yuyin Pavilion, Li Nuo hummed a song and walked into the Secretariat.

The other six secretaries of the Secretariat all had specific duties, but Li Nuo was relatively free. He did not have the task of reviewing memorials, nor was he responsible for a specific department. If he had any ideas, he could just communicate directly with the Left Prime Minister.

Among the reforms he had recently promoted, the medical reform had been completed on a small scale, and the legal reform had been implemented in prefectures and counties.

However, this was only the first step.

Chang'an and several states in the capital region were under the eyes of the court, and they did not dare to disobey.

But outside the capital region, how much of it could be implemented was not something he could control.

The court's control over the grassroots was too weak.

If all the officials in Daxia had a noble spirit and were dedicated to the country and the people, there would be no such troubles.

Of course, this was just Li Nuo's unrealistic fantasy.

People are selfish. It is not easy to cultivate a Confucian official, but it is easy to destroy them.

At present, Daxia does not need a generalist who is proficient in the six arts, nor a pillar of state governance.

What the court needs is a Confucian official who is not involved in corruption with the gentry, is truly willing to work for the people, and is selfless.

In the government office, the left prime minister pondered for a long time and whispered: "Candidates with the noble spirit will be directly admitted without the imperial examination?"

Li Nuo added: "Not only can they not take the imperial examination, but officials with the noble spirit will also be promoted first when they are promoted. For every promotion, the official will be promoted by two levels. However, if the cultivation level decreases, they will be demoted or even dismissed..."

Because of the special nature of the noble spirit, this model that sounds like a fantasy can be realized in this world.

The left prime minister did not think about it for long, shook his head and said: "This method is impossible to implement."

Turning all the officials in the court into Confucian disciples is naturally the scene that Confucianists dream of.

They will not embezzle or be corrupt, and they are only for the people.

But no one wants to see this scene except Confucianists and the common people.

The aristocratic families don't want to see it, and neither does His Majesty.

What Confucianism wants is a fair and just country, where all beings are equal, no one is superior, and no one is born inferior. Even the emperor of a country must be bound by the law.

His Majesty apparently attaches importance to Confucianism, and the two prime ministers are Confucian officials.

The fact is just the opposite. The Confucian officials in the court were all arranged by him in unimportant positions such as the Imperial Censorate and the Hongwen Academy.

Once there are too many Confucian officials in the court, His Majesty's power will be greatly restricted.

No emperor wants his power to be restricted by his ministers.

Li Nuo's proposal was rejected by the left prime minister as soon as it was proposed.

They are Confucian officials, and they cannot favor Confucianism when formulating policies.

The imperial examination must be absolutely fair and just, and there must be no special treatment.

Once a gap is opened for a certain group, the credibility of the imperial examination will completely collapse.

Although Li Nuo's original intention was good, it could not be achieved in this way. This has been proven by historical experience.

Li Nuo did not continue this topic, and the two discussed other things for a while.

Compared with the reform of the imperial examination system, tax reform is the most urgent.

The tax silver collected by the treasury is getting worse year by year, and coupled with the recent reforms, the court is already poor and almost unable to make ends meet.

The situation of Daxia is poor at both ends and rich in the middle.

The people are poor, the court is poor, and the rich are the gentry.

When the country was founded, the aristocratic families reached an agreement with the court. They obeyed the rule of the court on the premise that they did not have to pay taxes.

At that time, they owned very little land, and the court could collect a lot of taxes.

But hundreds of years later, as they continued to annex land, the land under their names became more and more, and the land that the court could collect taxes from became less and less.

In addition, the officials and dignitaries of Daxia, the land under their names was also tax-free.

In order to avoid tax exemption, some local tyrants registered more land under their names. The final result was that the gentry became richer and the court became poorer.

These methods are all legal, and the court cannot collect taxes from them.

The court had revised the tax law several times before, but the tax reform plan was rejected by the powerful, or it was difficult to implement after being issued to the local authorities. The local officials were all their people, falsifying data, concealing tax amounts, and obstructing the reform in various ways, making each tax reform ineffective.

Later, the extra money collected by the court was not even enough to cover the administrative expenses of collecting taxes, and several reforms ended in failure.

The left prime minister sighed and said, "The court has tried many ways, but none of them succeeded. Do you have any good ideas?"

Li Nuo smiled slightly and said, "Of course."

The left prime minister looked at him.

Li Nuo gently made a gesture of wiping his neck to him.

Not long after, Li Nuo walked out of the Secretariat.

His method was rejected by the left prime minister again.

Those who are willing to pay taxes pay taxes, those who are unwilling to pay taxes are beheaded, and all their properties are confiscated. This is the fastest way to fill the treasury, but the left prime minister said that the court cannot be a robber, at least not every time...

Li Nuo has no other choice, neither the civil nor the military.

When he returned to Yuyin Pavilion, Fenghuang had already packed up.

After saying goodbye to Nightingale and Yuanyang, the two returned to Ningxin Garden together.

At the gate of Ningxin Garden, when Li Nuo and Fenghuang walked in hand in hand, two other figures walked out side by side.

Prince Chun looked at Fenghuang who was holding hands with Li Nuo, and his expression was a little stunned.

Another one?

Fenghuang was a little at a loss when she saw Prince Chun and Li Xuanjing. She lowered her head and whispered: "Meet the prince, meet Lord Li..."

Li Xuanjing nodded slightly and didn't say much.

Prince Chun sighed lightly, patted Li Nuo on the shoulder, and said: "Go to see Li Yun more often when you are free, take him to see the outside world, don't let him stay at home all the time..."

Father and Prince Chun came to see An Ning and Jia Ren. After they left, Fenghuang looked at Li Nuo a little nervously and asked: "If we are together, will Lord Li disagree? I, I don't want any status..."

Li Nuo held her hand and said: "No, my father is not as terrible as the rumors outside, don't worry."

After returning home, Fenghuang went to find Jia Ren and An Ning, while Li Nuo came to the study alone.

When he left the Secretariat, he took away a file, which contained the content of the tax reform of the court in recent years.

There is nothing wrong with these tax reform measures in themselves.

For example, the abolition of exorbitant taxes, the unified taxation of officials and gentry, the abolition of the tax-free privileges of officials, and the direct increase of their salaries as compensation, but the final result is that the salaries of officials have been raised, but the tax reform has not been implemented.

No matter how you look at it, Daxia has all the manifestations of the end of the dynasty.

It is not surprising that a dynasty with a national life of 300 years has come to this point.

In another world, when a dynasty reaches this point, it is time to change the dynasty and enter a new historical cycle.

But here, because of the existence of martial arts and various schools of thought, the power of the country and the family has been infinitely magnified. The gun is not in the hands of the people, and the uprising from the bottom up is naturally impossible to succeed.

The change of dynasties is either from internal seizure of power or from external aggression.

Li Nuo is going to sort out the contents of these tax reforms, formulate a new set of tax laws based on his own cognition and experience, and implement them when the time is right.

Fenghuang came in from outside, holding a jade plate in her hand, and said, "Have some fruit. This is what Sinong Temple just sent today."

Li Nuo had just written a few lines, and without raising his head, he said, "Put it aside for now. I'll eat it later."

Fenghuang walked to his side and said, "You do your thing. I'll feed you..."

She peeled the grapes and fed them to Li Nuo one by one.

Looking at the files on the table, she asked curiously, "Is the court going to implement a new tax law?"

Li Nuo shook his head and said, "Not yet."

Phoenix asked, "Why?"

Li Nuo briefly explained to her, and Phoenix was surprised, "Do they dare to defy the laws of the court?"

Li Nuo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "In their territory, they are the court, and local officials listen to them. There are also many of their officials in the court. If the several major families don't nod, the court can't collect taxes."

Phoenix ate a grape by herself and said, "If I were the court, I would let the officials of the Wang family collect taxes from the Cui family, the officials of the Cui family collect taxes from the Pei family, and the officials of the Pei family collect taxes from the Zheng family, and let the noble families fight against each other..."

Li Nuo He put down his pen, held her waist, let her sit on his lap, and said: "The major families are not stupid, how could they fight each other and benefit the court? Even if they don't get along with each other, they are united when facing the court..."

Fenghuang leaned on Li Nuo's arms, wrapped his arms around his neck, and said: "Those who can collect taxes will be promoted. If the tax revenue cannot be collected, they will be dismissed and dismissed. This will weaken the influence of the family in the court, and it will not harm the court..."

Li Nuo continued to shake his head and said: "This is not okay."

The major families trained so many officials for the court in order to have someone in the court. They usually transferred the officials they trained to their own territory to strengthen their control over the local area.

The court has long realized this and will send some officials who have nothing to do with them.

But those officials will be recruited by the local families in a short time.

Those who cannot be recruited may even fall into their hands.

As for sending Wang family officials to Cui family territory and Cui family officials to Pei family territory, the court had done it before and had forced them to pay taxes, but these people would not take action against the noble families and gentry. The taxes paid by the court would eventually be levied on the people.

Fenghuang heard this and said without hesitation: "The court does not allow the collection of heavy taxes. If they exploit the people, just catch them and chop them all off. Killing so many corrupt officials, you can increase your cultivation a lot, right?"

Li Nuo stared at Fenghuang blankly, speechless for a while.

She is worthy of being the woman who made Yuyin Pavilion the first music hall in Chang'an and acquired the first and second music halls in just two years.

If these people can collect taxes normally, the reform will be successful, the national treasury will win a lot, Li Nuo will win a little, and the Confucian cultivation will increase.

They exploit the people and collect taxes abnormally. Chopping them off will win the national treasury and Li Nuo a lot, and the legalist cultivation will increase.

They couldn't collect taxes and were dismissed from office. Although they didn't directly cut off their cultivation, they could at least increase their cultivation of the Fa family. Li Nuo still won a small victory.

No matter what the outcome is, he will not lose.

Fenghuang saw Li Nuo looking at her like this, lowered her head with a guilty conscience, and whispered: "I, am I too bad..., in fact, I don't want to implicate the people, but in the past few years, Daxia has been troubled internally and externally. Our Li family can only become stronger to have the ability to protect ourselves in troubled times..."

Li Nuo was very surprised.

Fenghuang has always been a weak woman in his mind.

Although she is versatile, has outstanding business ability, and knows marketing and publicity, she has never shown any political literacy.

But what she said just now is not something that an ordinary woman can say.

At least, the beautiful lady, even An Ning as a princess, would not talk about this aspect.

Li Nuo became a little interested and asked, "What internal and external troubles does Daxia have? Tell me about it..."

Fenghuang explained, "The internal troubles are naturally the aristocratic families, especially the Wang family. Last year, my father almost killed all the officials of the Wang family in Chang'an. Although the Wang family has not shown any performance, I am afraid that they have already hated the court and our Li family. It is said that the Wang family has two martial arts half-saints of the sixth realm. At the time of prosperity, these aristocratic families are arrogant. They have suffered such a big loss this time. They may retaliate in the future. We have to guard against it..."

Li Nuo nodded slightly.

In fact, he has never forgotten this matter in his heart.

Because of this, even if Jiahe An Ning was pregnant, he would go to Zhao State to fight for the hope of breaking through.

He looked at Fenghuang and asked, "What about the foreign threat?"

Fenghuang said seriously, "The biggest foreign threat is naturally Wei State. They stationed troops in Liang State, nominally to protect Liang State, but in fact they covet Daxia. Wei State is stronger than Daxia. In just ten years, it has expanded its army several times, so it must have some purpose. What is more worrying is that Wei State and Chu State have had close exchanges in recent years. If the two countries send troops at the same time, Daxia's southwest will face the threat of two dynasties at the same time..."

Li Nuo was stunned. Wei State and Chu State had close exchanges, which he didn't even know.

He looked at Fenghuang and asked, "Who did you hear these things from?"

Fenghuang said, "I heard it from the guests. The guests of Yuyin Pavilion, Tianyin Courtyard and Lelai Tower are all dignitaries, and there are also many envoys from other countries. They like to talk about state affairs while listening to music. The girls have learned more about state affairs from them..."

She continued, "All the major dynasties have the ambition to unify the world. In history, the weak countries were always the first to be annexed. Among the five countries, although Daxia is slightly stronger than Zhao, its location is far inferior to Zhao. Zhao has only two neighbors, Qi and Daxia, while Daxia is adjacent to four countries. Once the small countries on the border are destroyed, it will directly border the four dynasties..."

Li Nuo fell into thought. Fenghuang was right. In addition to the ocean in the east, Daxia's borders were tightly surrounded by the four dynasties. Except for Zhao, there were only some small countries as buffers on the borders with the other three countries...

Once these small countries were destroyed, it would be surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Although Wei was stronger than Daxia, it was impossible for it to annex Daxia. However, if Wei and Chu, the two most powerful countries, joined forces, Daxia would inevitably be defeated.

However, the court would certainly not watch this happen.

As early as the founding of the country, Daxia and Zhao became friendly countries and signed a military alliance. If one country was invaded, the other country must send troops to help.

Although the two countries were the weakest of the five countries, if they joined forces, even the strongest Wei and Chu would have to weigh whether the result of four defeats was worth it.

The continent could be stable for hundreds of years, not because the countries loved peace.

Rather, at the end of the Warring States period, the positions, national strength and relations of the five countries formed a delicate balance. No one could swallow anyone, and forced annexation would also be seriously damaged and become the target of annexation by other countries.

At this time, An Ning walked in from outside with a bulging belly and said, "Wei and Chu invaded Daxia, Zhao would certainly not stand idly by. They provoked a war among the four countries. Wouldn't they worry that Qi would benefit in the end?"

Phoenix left Li Nuo's arms shyly, helped An Ning sit on the chair, and then said, "If Wei and Chu jointly invaded Daxia, Qi deployed troops on the border of Zhao, could Zhao still support Daxia?"

An Ning frowned and said, "No way, Qi has always claimed neutrality and signed peace treaties with various countries..."

Phoenix shook his head and said, "If the treaty was useful, there would be no five dynasties now. Qi seems to be the least threatening one, but in fact it should be the most cautious. They have been planning for hundreds of years, and their tentacles have reached the top leaders of various countries, and can even influence the decisions of the courts of various countries..."