"Haha, you are such a shameless stinky girl. What does it mean to attract a husband? Even if the queen mother allocates you to a husband, I am the elder and you are the younger, okay?" Su Xingran replied in embarrassment.
"Okay, I know, I will listen to you from now on, sister!" Su Xingchen turned his face to one side and pouted, sulking.
In fact, when Su Chengxuan was still in the capital a few days ago, Empress Lu mentioned to Su Xingran that his sister Su Xingchen might have been given to Chen Xiaomu. Although Su Xingran was surprised, thinking about it, Chen Xiaomu not only helped his father regain the people from Chu State, In order to regain the kingdom and save her queen's life, I felt awkward at that time, but it was hard to say anything. After all, after years of wars between countries, many young and strong men died on the battlefield, leaving civilians with slightly better hands. Many common people had three wives and four concubines. Instead of prohibiting this behavior, the courts of various countries issued some regulations to encourage men to have more concubines in order to increase the population of their countries.
Seeing Su Xingchen acting like a frustrated little daughter-in-law, Su Xingran felt a little distressed. She glanced at her sister and said, "Since we are here, let's go back together."
When Su Xingchen heard this, he couldn't help but lower his head and cover his mouth with a snicker, then stretched out his hand to close the car curtain.
"What, how can you make peace with that traitor Xiong Ze privately?" Su Chengxuan's hot eyes suddenly turned cold when he looked at Chen Xiaomu. Back in the palace, Su Chengxuan and Chen Xiaomu sat down to talk. When Su Chengxuan asked He was most concerned about the war situation at the front. Chen Xiaomu told him that he had reached a peace agreement with the Chu State. After Su Chengxuan heard this, he stood up from his chair and stared at Chen Xiaomu and asked. Originally, he expected Chen Xiaomu to catch Xiong Zerang. He was humiliated, and the worst he could do was to spit out the money he had robbed from Zheng State, and then compensate Zheng State with some money. Now it seemed that everything was in vain, but Su Chengxuan had no intention of annexing Chu State. He knew that even a small country like his could not swallow up a territory as big as Chu's. What's more, he had not recovered yet and had an army of 40,000 to 50,000 men. Even if he succeeded, big countries such as Qin and Qi would not give in. He had been complacent for too long, and if he became the target of public criticism, his fate would not be much better than when he fled to Tianquan County.
Chen Xiaomu took out the Qi State warning letter from his body and handed it to Su Chengxuan silently.
After reading Qi Guo's warning letter, Su Chengxuan slumped back on his chair. After sitting there for a long time, he squeezed out four words through his teeth, "It's too much!"
At this time, Lu Jun walked carelessly into Su Chengxuan's study room from outside, and shouted loudly from a distance: "My nephew and son-in-law, have you captured that old thief Xiong Ze?"
Chen Xiaomu quickly stood up from his chair to greet him, and said with a smile: "Uncle, I made peace with the Chu State, so there is no need to capture Xiong Ze again."
"Peace?" Lu Jun was stunned and stared at Chen Xiaomu, who didn't react for a moment. Su Chengxuan slowly walked over from behind and handed Lu Jun the warning letter from Qi that Chen Xiaomu had given him.
Lu Jun took the warning letter blankly, glanced at Chen Xiaomu and Su Chengxuan, and then lowered his head to read the letter.
To say that the official in the Zheng court who is most unwilling to make peace with Chu is definitely Lu Jun. Not only did his only son die in the hands of the Chu people, but also his wife and daughter have been captured by the Chu people since the new capital. From the day it was conquered to this day, no one is alive or dead, no corpses are seen, and their whereabouts are unknown. How can he let go of such deep hatred.
Originally, he was going to accompany Su Chengxuan in the morning to welcome Chen Xiaomu who had returned triumphantly, but unfortunately there was no money in the palace. When such a great hero as Zheng Guo returned, let alone rewarding the three armies, there was no way he could have a decent welcome banquet. Don't do it, Yu Ding Su Chengxuan sent him and the newly appointed eunuch chief Wang Xi to raise some silver coins to hold a welcoming banquet.
"Your Majesty, now that the treasury is empty and the Qi people are preparing to raise troops at the border, how can we fight this war?" Lu Jun said worriedly after reading the letter.
Su Chengxuan did not answer, but looked at Chen Xiaomu, wanting to hear his thoughts.
Chen Xiaomu thought for a moment and said, "I think it would be better to issue some national bonds first to tide over the current difficulties!"
"National debt?" Su Chengxuan and Lu Jun asked almost in unison. They had never heard of the term national debt, nor had they heard of any country in the world engaging in such a thing.
Originally, Chen Xiaomu was planning to tell the two of them where the money that Wu Yan had told him before his execution was hidden, but he thought that if he handed over the more than 10 million taels of silver at once, he would probably encourage the Zheng court to hide it. With his extravagant style, he has no intention of making progress all day long. He just spends his time dealing with the people in the country and maintaining the rule of his small court. If he goes back to the old path, he will be destroyed by the surrounding big countries in a few years.
"National debt means that when the national finance is in deficit, it issues some bonds to raise some money from the private sector and gives a certain amount of interest." Seeing that the two of them didn't understand, Chen Xiaomu explained it to them.
Unexpectedly, the more he explained, the more confused Su Chengxuan and Lu Jun became. Lu Jun asked in confusion, "Nephew and son-in-law, don't we have to pay them interest when the money is deposited in the bank or the box office? Why do we have to pay her interest on the other hand?" ?”
The three people were talking about the national debt, and Wei Wen and Lu Qian happened to walk in at this time. They came to attend the banquet held by the court at noon. After the ceremony, several people continued to discuss the topic of the national debt. Wei Wen After being the prime minister for many years, the more he heard, the more something was wrong!
He raised his hand to Chen Xiaomu and asked, "Your Highness, you asked our country, Zheng, to borrow so much foreign debt and pay additional interest. Isn't this just a waste of money? How will the court repay such a large sum of money in the future?"
Chen Xiaomu said with a smile: "There are two ways. One way is to continue borrowing it year after year, which is to eat what the chief minister said. The second way is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. If the country becomes rich and strong, won't there be enough money to pay off the debt? ?”
Lu Qian curled his lips when he heard this, and said sarcastically: "I have always dreamed that our Zheng country could become rich and powerful, but over the years, everyone has thought of all the ways. Maybe we ministers are too stupid and have never thought about it. Is there any good way to make Zheng Guo prosperous and strong? Can you please give us some advice?"
Chen Xiaomu didn't care about the gun and stick in Lu Qian's words, but nodded and said: "This is no problem, but can my father and your lords decentralize some power and implement some reforms in the government, so as to make Zheng Guo stronger! "
Su Chengxuan's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this, and he nodded hurriedly: "My dear son-in-law, it doesn't matter. As long as it can make Zheng Guo strong, even if you pay some price, it is acceptable!"
Chen Xiaomu nodded, raised his hand to Wei Wenyi and asked, "Excuse me, Chief Minister, what tax sources are the main sources of support for the imperial court's finances now?"
Wei Wen was stunned for a moment, then he raised his five fingers and said: "Land tax, household tax, population tax, salt tax, tea tax, commercial tax..." He said a tax type and then retracted one finger. He raised his finger again, raised his finger back and forth several times, and mentioned nearly twenty tax types in one breath.
After hearing what he said, Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "To make the country strong, the people must be able to cultivate themselves and live a healthy life. I would like to suggest that our Zheng State simply cancel the land tax, household tax and capitation tax, so that the people of Zheng State can support our court more and unite closely." Around the imperial court, people with the same hatred can also encourage farmers to actively reclaim wasteland to increase food production. When food is sufficient, the population will naturally increase. With more people, consumption will naturally increase, and the court's tax revenue will naturally increase! "
Su Chengxuan, Wei Wen and others did not understand the words support, unity, and consumption of future generations. If Chen Xiaomu had not led the army to defeat the Chu people and helped them successfully restore the country, they would now fully understand this People are undercover spies sent by the enemy country. Isn’t this a joke? Land tax, household tax and population tax are the main sources of revenue for the imperial court. The people are happy to cancel these three taxes, but they can't even catch the northwest wind!
Seeing everyone looking at him as if they didn't know him, Chen Xiaomu smiled and said, "What's wrong? Am I right?"
Wei Wen shook his head, sighed again and said: "Your Highness, you have grown up in the palace and have enough food and clothing since you were a child, but you don't know the hardships of officials at all levels like us. If these three sources of tax revenue are really abolished, the imperial court's income The reduction is more than half, and the country has to raise more troops, which is another huge expense. How can we keep the enemy at bay if we can’t even afford the troops?"
"We can vigorously develop industry and commerce, won't this tax revenue be made up by then? It's like a metaphor that farmers no longer collect land tax, but they have to collect tax when selling grain, right? Using another metaphor, Chen Xiaomu picked up a piece of rice paper on the table and said : "If I estimate correctly, this rice paper should be produced by the Cao's Paper Factory in Xuancheng, Qin State. Today, in the imperial courts of various countries, most famous nobles use this paper for everything from imperial decrees to small letters. The usage is extremely large. Why can't some capable people be sent to it?" People went to the State of Qin to quietly negotiate with them, asking them to open workshops in our State of Zheng to produce this kind of paper. We not only provided them with space, but also exempted them from taxes for another three years. After three years, we also collected half of the taxes. Although they don't collect taxes from them, they still have to hire people to work for them. After the employees get paid, they have to buy some food and daily necessities, right? Besides, they have to spend money to buy raw materials. You see, as long as they spend money in our country of Zheng, we will have taxes to collect, and won’t the money come? By analogy, as long as other countries have famous products, we will send people to recruit them to open a branch workshop. In terms of political status, as long as the workshop he runs is large enough, hires enough people, and pays taxes actively, we can set up some virtual jobs. They are given the title of "proposal officer" or "policy officer", etc., and then some levels are added as needed, such as seventh-grade proposing officer, fifth-grade political officer. Their scope of power is only to write posts and make suggestions to the court. , it’s just that the court does not pay salaries to these false officials. At most, it gives them some symbolic living allowances. They are allowed to buy three-horse or four-horse official cars that only court officials can ride in. However, these official cars must They were uniformly provided by the court, registered in the register, and had to pay a certain amount of money in carriage and horse tax every month. "
Chen Xiaomu finished speaking in one breath, leaving these people dumbfounded and silent. They didn't expect that this guy was not only a good fighter, but he also had these frivolous intestines in his belly. He had eaten the minds of these businessmen to death, yes, These people have no worries about food and drink when their business is big, and they have one house after another for concubines. The only thing they lack is their status in society. After all, today's world is dominated by officials, scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, merchants and workshop owners. His social status is not even comparable to that of farmers. Whoever has money does not want to honor his ancestors and show off in front of his relatives and friends by getting an official position.
After a long time, Su Chengxuan looked at Wei Wen and asked, "Prime Minister, what do you think?"
Wei Wenggong cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, you can try His Highness's method first. Half of these three taxes will be exempted for the time being. When His Highness's method is successfully implemented in the future, we will consider waiving them all!"
Su Chengxuan nodded, then turned to ask Chen Xiaomu, "Xian son-in-law, please tell me about the national debt again. How are they issued, how are they paid interest, and how much interest do they have to pay?"
