Li Yue looked solemn, "My father wanted to use my husband to solve the money crisis in the court, but he didn't consider my husband's difficulties!"
Zhang Yang drank tea, "Just reducing expenditures is not of much use, we also need to increase revenue."
"Isn't it time to harvest the sugar in Luoyang? Last month, another 20,000 guan of silver money entered Lishan Mountain." After saying these words, Li Yue smiled bitterly, "The government has been poor for a long time, and the local powerful have hidden their wealth at every turn. Tens of thousands of dollars, it’s really ridiculous.”
Late at night, the couple discussed in a low voice and wrote down the next arrangements in the account book.
Early the next morning, after the court, Zhang Yang put his hands in front of his waist, looking at some potted plants in front of him, and waited under the eaves with a memorial in his hand.
The prince went into the palace to report, but his majesty walked out without waiting for anyone to come back.
"Your Majesty, I have..."
"Walk with me."
The emperor wanted to relax and couldn't stop him. Without giving him a chance to refute, he went straight to the Tai Chi Hall.
Resist the urge to give up.
For the sake of this Datang, I will endure it.
Gritting his teeth and keeping up, Li Shimin walked to the Lingyan Pavilion. At this moment, three or two craftsmen were repairing the pavilion.
After looking up and down, Zhang Yang said: "Your Majesty, I have something I want to tell you."
"I want to decorate this place more luxuriously, what do you think?"
"Money is needed to decorate with luxury. There are many officials in the three provinces, six ministries, nine temples and twenty-four palaces who owe their salaries and have not paid them."
Seeing that Li Shimin didn't look very good, Zhang Yang added: "I remember that Your Majesty has some huge luminous pearls that can be taken out and placed in Lingyan Pavilion. They are both beautiful and can be used for lighting at night."
After speaking, he looked up and saw a troubled look on His Majesty's face.
Is it possible that he is really considering it?
Li Shimin thought about it again and again, and finally shook his head and walked to the other side. This is an old palace land. Many palaces have not been repaired and are basically leftover from the former Sui Dynasty.
"Back when we entered Guanzhong and my father proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an City, the palace here has been abandoned to this day. If it can be repaired, it can also be arranged for many palace people to live in it."
After reading this, Li Shimin finally sat down in a pavilion. The palace was very large, and the area next to the Li Zheng Palace was quite busy with people.
The place looks desolate, with withered vegetation and mostly dilapidated buildings.
Zhang Yang glanced around and took out a piece of paper, "Your Majesty, please sign it."
Li Shimin lowered his eyebrows and saw the word IOU, "What does this mean?"
"The imperial court is almost at a loss to open the pot. In order to spend this year safely, and in order to quell the many complaints in the army and the imperial court, I plan to take 50,000 guan from Lishan Mountain to help your majesty."
Li Shimin looked at the IOU and said, "How much money do I owe you on credit now?"
Wang Gonggong is His Majesty's eunuch and the person closest to the Emperor. He stands silently at this moment, as motionless as a log.
He will not tell anyone what is said here or what happened.
It was also the emperor's trust in him.
Zhang Yang cupped his hands and said: "Including the Qujiang Pool that is still being mortgaged, as well as the construction of the Hexi Corridor and other previous projects, after signing these, the total is 160,000 yuan so far."
Li Shimin took a deep breath and said, "I was also a hero traveling in the Central Plains back then, and everyone respected me. I didn't expect that now, I would want to borrow money from you."
"Youdao means that even a penny can defeat heroes. Money is needed to employ people in the court, and money is indispensable for the governance of the Central Plains." Zhang Yang took out one of the memorials again, "This is my strategy to increase revenue and reduce expenditure."
The IOU in front of him had not yet been signed, but Li Shimin took over the memorial again.
Zhang Yang stood in trouble, and saw another mouse scurrying past in front of his eyes. The mouse got into the dilapidated palace wall.
"Foreign business? Tea, silk, grain?"
"Your Majesty, I have discussed the tea trade with Songtsen Gampo before, but there has been no specific implementation strategy. Since the government needs money, it is better to do these trades with people from the Western Regions or Turks."
"Wait a minute." Li Shimin's brows jumped when he heard about business. "If you want the DPRK to do business, wouldn't it mean that all civil and military officials in the DPRK are businessmen?"
"I knew your Majesty would say this a long time ago. I also have a memorial here." Zhang Yang handed over the second memorial: "At first, I did not consider changing the tax system. It involves national policy and taxation cannot be changed lightly. I thought that setting up a tax system in the border areas For mutual trade, the Hexi Corridor can be used as the location for mutual trade in the west, and Liaodong can be used as the place for mutual trade in the east."
"Of course, the court cannot come forward to do business, so I thought Lishan could come forward to preside over it, and all taxes would be paid to the court based on 50% of the transaction proceeds. I thought this was a customs tax."
In the past, the DPRK and the Central Government could cope with it, and there was no problem in being self-sufficient.
Now that there is such a huge economic burden, we might as well bring out the Ming Dynasty's border trade system.
Li Shimin nodded and said, "Do you want to sell the grain as well?"
Zhang Yang added: "In the past years, grain was harvested in the official warehouse of the imperial court. In the past two years, the grain harvest has been bumper. There is a lot of grain backlogged in the official warehouse, and it is all old grain. I thought it could be used to make wine, and used distiller's yeast to collect the wine tax and use it to feed food. The livestock is too wasteful. After a long time, the livestock will not be eaten. This is all loss. I know some tips on brewing wine. I can sell it outside the customs for money. I think it will be a lot of income. This is the source of income."
"It is a pity that so many resources are not being used. Since it is difficult for the court to come forward, Lishan can come forward on your behalf and let His Majesty the King of Wei come to preside over it. Your Majesty can rest assured."
"Then what do you mean by throttling?"
Zhang Yang added: "The reduction of expenditures I am talking about is to reduce the regular money of clan members and princes in various places, let them do a good job in taxation, and reward places with good governance results. Then not only do the clan members not have to reduce the regular money, Your Majesty You can also reward him with things from the palace, such as gold leaves, jade, etc., or even verbal praise from the decree."
Li Shimin looked troubled.
"Your Majesty, let them know that chickens and ducks will be killed if they don't lay eggs, and cows will be killed if they don't plow the fields."
"If the clan members don't do anything, will I kill them too?"
After struggling for a long time, Zhang Yang sighed: "Your Majesty, it's up to you. I don't know those royal clan members."
Li Shimin put away the IOU and the two memorials, "Let me think about it. You can go back first."
"Here."
Managing money is the most painful thing, especially managing the emperor's purse.
Zhang Yang passed by Tai Chi Hall, walked out of Chengtian Gate, and came all the way to Shangshu Province.
Li Zhi is sitting here alone.
"His Royal Highness Prince Jin, we didn't prepare any cake today." Zhang Yang said as he spoke, took out the key, unlocked the door, and pushed the old door hard.
There are still many traces of yesterday in Shangshu Province today.
Zhang Yang stepped in, and Li Zhi followed behind.
"Brother-in-law, are you going to leave us alone after using us?"
"Why did His Highness King Jin say this?" Zhang Yang put the two desks in the main hall together, just enough for him to lie on them and sleep.
Li Zhi knelt down and sat aside, "Then why hasn't my brother-in-law come to see us in the past two days?"
Zhang Yang lay down and said again: "Because the matter is done."
"That's just using us, just don't care..."
I don’t know what is going on in Li Zhi’s little head. Zhang Yang is lying on his side with his head supported by one hand, “If His Highness, King Jin, wants to play, you can call your younger brothers and sisters and come to Shangshu Province to continue playing, or do the questions. Do some small experiments, and if you don’t understand anything, you can ask me.”
"Seriously?" Li Zhi's eyes brightened again.
Zhang Yang nodded slowly, "But one thing! You can't disturb my sleep. I have been handling the account books for your father these days. I haven't had a good sleep in a long time."
Li Zhi was leaving quickly and bumped into someone head-on.
Xu Jingzong quickly supported him and said, "His Royal Highness, Prince Jin, is not injured."
"No." Li Zhi waved his sleeves and ran away quickly.
Looking at the running figure, Xu Jingzong sighed, "What a spirited child."
Taking another look at the current Shangshu Province, Xu Jingzong walked into the main hall and said, "Zhang Shangshu, the manpower is ready. How should the Tang Dynasty fight Xue Yantuo?"
Zhang Yang closed his eyes and said, "Speak first, persuade first? You have to keep persuading. How to persuade is your business. Only when you can't persuade anymore and can't persuade anymore, let General Li Ji send troops to attack."
Xu Jingzong nodded and said: "I understand Zhang Shangshu's intention. What the Foreign Affairs Council advocates is always peace. As for how to persuade, you don't need to be too clear. In short, the Foreign Affairs Council has persuaded Xue Yantuo's little Khan again and again. But he didn’t listen to Tian Khan’s wishes, so the Tang Dynasty had no choice but to send troops to attack.”
Zhang Yang lay on his side with his back to him, nodding slightly, "Old Xu, you have to remember that justice will always be on our side. Personal honor and disgrace is all that matters. When it comes to national war, we must not be careless. We, the Tang Dynasty, will always be able to stabilize the world. They are all on the righteous side.”
Keeping talking about justice, Xu Jingzong knew in his heart that the minister in front of him was the one who had done the most evil.
"Liaodong sent another message. They still lack money and want five thousand guan."
"This kid Da'an is down-to-earth and honest. If he wasn't really short of money, he wouldn't ask us. Whenever he needs money, we will give it to him."
"Your Majesty understands." Xu Jingzong said hesitantly: "A lot of manpower and money have been invested in the construction of Liaodong, but there has been no improvement for two years."
"Old Xu, Liaodong has been the land of Yan since ancient times. Once the land of Yan is lost, it will be the vast Guanzhong Plain. There is no danger to defend. If the land of Yan is lost, the natural dangers of Liaodong will be lost. The terrain is like this, and so are the passes, just like Chang'an cannot lose the Hexi Corridor, and Guanzhong cannot lose Liaodong."
Listening to Zhang Shangshu's words, he occasionally breathed heavily. Could it be that he was talking in his sleep?
Xu Jingzong scratched his head and turned to leave.
"The Sixteenth State of Yanyun cannot be thrown away."
Zhang Shangshu suddenly said something, and he was frightened again. Could it be that he has been busy these days and made people crazy?
Xu Jingzong subconsciously quickened his pace again.
Soon the children arrived.
Zhang Yang could vaguely hear the noise of the children, half asleep and half awake. The children in Guanzhong needed someone to rely on. Tian Khan, the father, was so busy all day long, so he probably had a lot to hope for.
It’s not like you have to rely on me as your brother-in-law.
"Brother-in-law, there are two younger brothers in the palace who are in poor health. Can you go to Lishan Mountain to escape the summer heat this time? Take them with you and let Dr. Sun take a look."
Listening to what sounded like Li Lizhi's words, Zhang Yang nodded slowly.
Li Lizhi looked at him suspiciously, "Is my brother-in-law asleep?"
Li Zhi could also hear faint snoring, "I did fall asleep."
In Ganlu Hall, Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, and Changsun Wuji were still arguing about Zhang Yang's mutual market policy.
Li Shimin looked troubled, and Wei Zheng and Changsun Wuji were quarreling red-faced. If not for the fact that they were both educated people and scholars, even their family members would have started scolding them at this moment.
Wei Zheng was in favor of this mutual trade policy, but Changsun Wuji felt that this mutual trade policy was risky, especially because it would increase the burden on border defense.
Fang Xuanling's idea is that mutual trade can be opened, but the number of people from the Western Regions and even Turks must be controlled.
The quarrel lasted for a long time, and finally the queen asked someone to bring snacks, and then it stopped.
They were also thirsty, so everyone drank tea.
Fang Xuanling looked at the tea leaves in front of him and said, "May I ask whether your majesty's strategy for mutual trading this time was also developed by Zhang Shilang?"
Li Shimin nodded slightly, "He saw the embarrassing situation in the DPRK and thought about the future."
Fang Xuanling added: "The mutual market can be opened, and old grain can also be discharged from the official warehouse. As for using distiller's yeast to collect wine taxes, it is open to discussion. To reduce the clan's regular money, the clan needs to take the lead."
The matter involves His Majesty's relatives. This kind of matter needs a big brother to take the lead. It is best for this leader to be led by Li Xiaogong and Li Daozong.
As long as these people take the lead, the clan members below will be more obedient.
Of the three well-thought-out strategies to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, we can only decide on one of them at the moment.
After the others left, Li Shimin took out Zhang Yang's IOU and clenched his teeth and signed the 50,000 yuan of silver.
It's not just 330,000 yuan. If I save a few more years of taxes, I can pay it back to him. At worst, I won't make clothes for the next two years, drink less water, and don't want any of the talented girls sent here.
With a panic in his heart, Li Shimin finally gave in, enduring great humiliation in his heart.
Sooner or later, I will hang this boy in front of Chengtian Gate to make up for this humiliation! I tolerated Li Jiancheng for nine years and the Turks for three years. So what if I tolerate you Zhang Yang for three to five years now?
"Come here!" Li Shimin picked up the memorial and the IOU and shouted suddenly.
The prince quickly recovered and stepped forward, "Your Majesty."
"Give this document and memorial to Zhang Yang. I can only agree to a mutual trade strategy for him at the moment."
"Here."
At this moment, Shangshu Province has become a new paradise for children. The palace maids placed wooden horses and swings here.
The prince came with the memorial and watched the children playing together in twos and threes with a smile on his face.
Seeing that the princess and princes can be happy makes me, an old eunuch, happy too.
Then I walked into the main hall and saw Zhang Yang lying here. I heard that he often dozed off when he served as a minister in the Ministry of Rites.
This style of work has really not changed at all.
"County Marquis?" Wang Gonggong called in a low voice.
"Yeah." Zhang Yang nodded vaguely.
"County Marquis, wake up quickly, His Majesty has given you a reply."
"Um……"
The answer was still confused.
"Marquis of the County, it's time to go out on errands, and all the people from all the ministries have left."
Zhang Yang sat up suddenly, looked around and said confusedly: "What time is it?"
