Tibet

"The other thing is this!"

Li Ye obtained a thick stack of information from the imperial case, "This is a secret investigation report by the internal guards, showing the number of slaves owned by powerful households in the counties of East and West Shannan Province."

The three of them looked at each other in shock. None of them expected that the emperor would send internal guards to secretly investigate.

Li Ye smiled and said: "We can't hang ourselves from a tree. The internal guards themselves have the function of investigation. Using their functions will help the court grasp first-hand information."

Wei Jiansu took the information on Shannan East Road and looked at it. The first one to bear the brunt was the Du family in Xiangyang, with more than 3,600 slaves.

Wei Jiansu looked at the list of Shannan West Road again and was even more shocked, "Your Majesty, are you right? There are actually more than 20,000 slaves in the Guo family in Hechuan?"

Li Ye nodded, "Basically they are all refugees from Hebei and the Central Plains. The Jiangnan side is a refugee area, the Jingxiang side is also a refugee area, and there are Bashu, and at most the Shen family in Jiangnan has more than 30,000 slaves. I wrote to you and found out that the Shen family has turned all their slaves into civilians, and other Jiangnan families have followed suit. However, there are still more slaves, and the number is huge. Therefore, I request that the slave tax be introduced immediately. It will be levied starting this year and will start next month. declare!"

Wei Jiansu handed the list of information to Zhang Li and Liu Yan and asked, "What is the use of this information obtained by the internal security investigation?"

"I am considering dividing them into three levels: A, B, and C. Those who have more than 1,000 slaves are Class A, those who have 300 to 1,000 slaves are Class B, those who have 300 to 300 slaves are Class C, and the others are ordinary classes. , mainly adjusted by taxation. As for levels A, B, and C, it is not as simple as taxation.

Of course, I will do my best to be benevolent and righteous. First, each state will issue a rectification notice, and the rectification will be completed within ten days. If the county government records all abolition of slaves, it will be considered qualified and passed. If there is no movement within ten days, it will be passed. The state government will send an inspection team to your door. If you still refuse to inspect or commit fraud, then the court officials will come to your door to collect taxes and impose a tenfold fine. If you make a mistake, you can appeal. After the appeal, we will send someone to investigate again. .

But once the court rejects the appeal and the payment and fines are not paid within a month, the internal guards will come to enforce the law. What do you think of this plan? "

Zhang Li pondered for a moment and asked, "In your Majesty's plan, do you not see the role of the county government?"

Li Ye said calmly: "There are red faces, white faces and black faces. Let the county government buffer and appease them!"

Li Ye took another document and handed it to the three of them, "This is the implementation method that I personally drafted. If it needs to be improved or supplemented, you can figure it out yourself and implement it together with the slave tax. First, start with the Jia of Shannan East Road and West Road." Wait for the big players to start.”

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's more complicated in Bashu!" Wei Jiansu sighed.

Li Ye smiled faintly, "I have my own arrangements over there in Bashu!"

The three of them left. Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, then turned around and ordered: "Go and tell Liu Wutong to see me!"

Soon, Liu Wuzhou, the commander of the Imperial Guard, hurried over and bowed in salute, "I humbly join you, Your Majesty!"

Li Ye said slowly: "The imperial court will soon introduce slave tax laws and classified inspections. It will take the lead in inspecting the large Class A households with more than 1,000 slaves in Shannan Province. They will definitely let them conduct self-examination first. I guess these wealthy families have no A few of them will make corrections conscientiously, and they will definitely find ways to transfer. The internal guards will send people to monitor, grasp the evidence and location of the transfer, and then cooperate with the state government's inspection, or monitor the state government's inspection, do you understand what I mean? "

Liu Wutong understood immediately and said immediately: "I understand that the inspection stage is not the time for the internal guards to take action."

Li Ye praised his understanding and nodded, "That's right. Inspection is not a matter of the internal guards. The internal guards can provide information and monitor the state government's inspections. If the state government's inspections are not effective, they can write reports, but they cannot interfere or interfere. , Do you understand? Surveillance means watching indifferently, and waiting until the end, refusing to pay taxes and fines, then it is time for the internal guards to take action!"

"The humble position fully understands. I watch with a cold eye. I don't interfere or get involved. I just record!"

"Yes, let's make arrangements! Start from Shannan Road."

Liu Wutong bowed and left.

Li Ye immediately issued two orders to add 30,000 troops to the Jiannan Governor's Mansion, and Li Sheng was appointed as the Governor of Jiannan.

Second, Wei Boyu was ordered to train 50,000 new soldiers in Dengzhou.

The two armies guard against changes in the east and west roads of Shannan.

On the morning of the next day, the imperial court officially launched the "Slave Breeding Tax", which stipulated in detail the tax payment for the breeding behavior of slaves. It stipulated that slave owners must pay two taxes per slave every year. If the tax is evaded, once discovered, , will be punished ten times more severely.

The targets of taxation and heavy penalties are clearly slave owners, and the tax burden is also on slave owners and has nothing to do with slaves.

The "Slave Raising Tax" has been formulated a long time ago and will be launched immediately upon the emperor's order.

At the same time, the "Tang Dynasty Xunkan" issued on that day was specially issued with an extra number, sandwiched among newspapers. Ten thousand copies of the Xunkan were printed and distributed to all parts of the country through Jinzouyuan.

The implementation of the slave tax had almost no repercussions in Chang'an and Guanzhong. The abolition of slavery in Chang'an and Guanzhong was implemented most resolutely. There were no more slaves, but it caused strong repercussions all over the world.

There are a total of twenty-seven wealthy families in Shannan Province that are classified as Class A slave-owning households, distributed in nineteen states.

According to the unified deployment of the imperial court, each state government issued a unified rectification notice to the Class A wealthy families in their respective jurisdictions on the list, requiring them to abolish slavery within ten days. If they did not abolish slavery within ten days, the state government would come to inspect and approve the tax. money and fines.

There are two Class A families in Xiangyang, the Du family and the Huang family. Although the two families are relatively hidden and unknown to the outside world, the internal security of the investigation has found out the bottom line of the Du family and the Huang family through various means.

The Du family has 2,700 slaves and the Huang family has more than 1,300 slaves. Both families are included in the Class A list and received rectification notices.

That night, Du Youguang, the head of the Du family, came to visit the Huang family.

Huang Min invited him to sit in the VIP Hall. Both of them belonged to the second generation of family heads. Huang Min's father Huang Kai was still alive and could make decisions for him, but Du Youguang's father Du Yan passed away. Suddenly, something big happened. He couldn't find an elder to discuss, so he came to discuss with his in-laws, the Huang family.

However, the marriage between the Du and Huang families was still a matter of the previous generation. Their next generation did not have a marriage. Huang Min's brother-in-law was Du Youguang's fourth brother, but Huang Min's two sons and one daughter had no relationship with the Du family.

The main reason is that Du Youguang is short-sighted and stingy. He has damaged the interests of the Huang family in many aspects, making Huang Min gradually dissatisfied with Du Youguang. The last time Huang Min's grandson held a full-month banquet, Du Youguang was not invited, but another elder of the Du family was invited.

"I heard that the Huang family is ready to compromise?" Du Youguang asked tentatively.

"Brother Du, who did you hear that from?"

Huang Min glanced at him with dissatisfaction and said lightly: "Things are not that simple. If you give up, who will compensate the losses of the Huang family?"

"But if you don't give up, you have to pay taxes!"

"Brother Du, you still have to pay taxes. In fact, there is not much. If you don't pay a penny, the county government will also be embarrassed!"

This sentence has two meanings. One meaning is to pay taxes honestly. Anyway, more than 2,000 guan a year is not much?

The second meaning is to pay a little appropriately, not to be stingy, and give an explanation to the county government.

It depends on who you are? An upright person must understand the first meaning.

But a miser like Du Youguang naturally understood the second meaning.

Du Youguang immediately understood what the other party meant. He concealed the number of slaves, paid taxes with a small part, and paid less but concealed more. It is estimated that all wealthy families in the world would do this! Who would pay taxes honestly?

The two did not agree with each other, so Du Youguang had to get up and say goodbye. Huang Min sent him out and said to him: "The rectification period is only ten days, brother, you have to hurry up."

"I know, I hope both of our families can survive this disaster safely."

Du Youguang's words were meaningful, and there was a hint of threat in his tone, which made people feel very uncomfortable.

Huang Min looked at Du Youguang's carriage coldly as it went away. It was still his father who was right. Let the Du family appease the emperor's dissatisfaction with the Jingxiang family!

This time, the emperor chose Shannan and the other two roads as pilot projects, which more or less meant that he would not forget the old grudge.

In the next few days, the Huang family began to count the slaves in several large manors, restore their civilian status, and send them to the county government for filing. Before, they only made preparations and did not move, fearing to alert the enemy.

Huang Min played a trick. He reported to the county government in two batches. The first batch only reported 300 people and the regularization list, and on the last day, he reported the regularization list of the second batch of 1,000 people.

At the same time, the Du family was also pretending to count the slaves and restore the civilian status. They reported more than 500 slaves to the county government, and more than 500 people were all converted to civilian status.

These farmers who regained their freedom stayed in the nearest manor in Xiangyang, while the other 2,700 people who were concealed were arranged to more remote manors.

The Huang family also did the same thing, transferring 1,000 slaves to the farthest manor.