Wang Hanlan has not contacted the people behind the scenes, so they are unable to take action. If the matter is exposed and involves him, all the efforts will be wasted. With his current strength, he is simply meat on the chopping block of the old emperor.
This Tan Che was the biggest flaw in the plan, and Liang was the one who ruined the game. If these two people didn't die, they would probably become an obstacle for him.
But these two obstacles were protected by the old emperor. Although the purpose was to monitor and control them, he had nowhere to do anything.
After leaving Kyoto and arriving at Jinan Prefecture, Qi Yuan felt much more relaxed. In the world of Kyoto, the heavens wanted to kick her out.
Now that her luck is gone, Xu Yin is probably going to Kyoto again very soon thanks to her aura as a heroine, who is sometimes inconsistent at that time.
She originally didn't want to earn merit, but God decided to let her reap the rewards.
"Master Liang has worked hard all the way, and the official has prepared a place to stay." The magistrate of Jinan Prefecture and his officials were waiting for Qi Yuan, and they were very tired.
Qi Yuan smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord Zhizhou."
Zhizhou introduced a group of officials, and after being polite with them, Qi Yuan returned to his residence.
It's a small courtyard but close to the Yamen, which is convenient.
The situation in Jinan Prefecture is indeed as clear and honest as Emperor Zhou Yuan said, and the officials are also very cooperative with Qi Yuan's tax reform.
It is impossible for a young man who has just passed his first two years to be so valued by His Majesty. It is impossible without ability. Moreover, tax reform is not a trivial matter, and Emperor Zhou Yuan could not be completely reassured.
There must be eyes and ears in the dark. If they think that the Emperor is far away, they are stupid. It is estimated that their actions today will be on His Majesty's desk tomorrow.
Emperor Zhou Yuan valued this tax reform so much, how could they dare to cause trouble? No one cares about longevity.
Having such scruples made Qi Yuan's stay in Jinan Prefecture exceptionally smooth. Jinan Prefecture's business development and taxation in recent years were placed on Qi Yuan's desk as soon as he took office.
There was no need to even bring out the imperial edict written by Emperor Zhou Yuan just in case.
Qi Yuan felt much more comfortable reading through the collected taxes. Jinan Prefecture was also considered a relatively prosperous prefecture in the Zhou Dynasty, with many merchants from the north and south.
However, with the development of business, the tax revenue of Jinan Prefecture has not changed much for several years, and there is even a trend of decline.
Merchants made money while doing business, and their profits were increasing, but the taxes were not clearly targeted, so merchants who had money but no land to spend began to be willing to buy land.
Qi Yuan's first reaction to land annexation was this, it was a sign.
The development of the Great Zhou Dynasty had its own world trend. Although the policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce has been improving, when the situation stabilized, the development of commerce still made progress.
Setting a reasonable business tax is a good method. It can manage business within a reasonable scope and can also increase a large amount of tax revenue for Da Zhou. As long as it is done properly, this will be a far-reaching reform.
After Qi Yuan read those policy accounts, he went to various counties to observe the business situation.
Qi Yuan spent more than half a year wandering around Jinan Prefecture, which made the magistrates everywhere tremble with fear. They were obviously imperial envoys who came to carry out tax reform, but they behaved like inspection officials.
They were afraid that someone who was secretly following Qi Yuan would catch their pigtails, which would really lead them straight to Tianting, and the official career would end here.
"Master Liang is back." Zhizhou looked at Qi Yuan who was in the government office and said hello.
Qi Yuan nodded and put down his pen, and made some minor adjustments based on the actual situation.
"Master Zhizhou, this is the proposed commercial tax policy. If there are no comments, we can start trial implementation."
Zhizhou smiled from the bottom of his heart after hearing Qi Yuan's words, as long as this adult doesn't wander around. Although he was confident that nothing major happened in Jinan Mansion, if anything happened to His Majesty, he would not have a good impression on him.
Things like the commercial tax trial can be placed in Jinan Prefecture, which shows that His Majesty is still impressed by him, and he is still thinking of being promoted back to Beijing. If something went wrong and he fell short, he wouldn't even cry.
"No objection, no objection. I will ask people from the yamen to post it tomorrow and distribute it to all counties." Zhizhou smiled brightly and said this without any force.
Qi Yuan handed the government order to Zhizhou and returned to his hometown to rest.
It was still spring and summer when Qi Yuan came to Jinan. More than half a year had passed, and this decree coincided with the new year. At this time, it was announced that it would be implemented on a trial basis for one year to see the results.
Early the next morning, a new decree was posted outside the government office.
The news that the imperial envoy came to Jinan Prefecture and said that tax reform was required has long been known to everyone. Therefore, as soon as the government decree was announced, more and more people came to the yamen gate.
"Old Li, you know how to read. Tell us what's written on it. Are you going to increase taxes on us?"
"Yes, yes, we won't have to raise taxes, right? If taxes are raised, we won't be able to survive even if the harvest is good."
Many of the onlookers were farmers. They only knew it was a tax reform, but they didn't know what kind of tax it was. They were afraid that the court would increase taxes and they would not be able to feed their families, so they were a little worried.
"Don't worry, it says there will be a tax increase, but it doesn't mean taxes will be collected from farmers, it means taxes will be collected from businessmen.
The government gave merchants the qualification to do business, and merchants had to pay taxes to the court. Merchants with government qualifications can have some conveniences, but the tax is much higher than ours. "Old Li explained with a gray beard.
"Don't those businessmen have too few conveniences? They are all profiteers, as long as they don't increase our taxes. Those businessmen are so rich that they can't make any money? We should give them a break."
"If the tax is good, they should also pay the tax."
There are many such voices among the crowd after learning about the tax content.
The same news is either happy or sad for those businessmen.
These big businessmen all looked sad and sighed together.
"Those who travel here and there are risking their lives to make money. The taxes are so high, do they still allow us to live?"
"I heard that this tax was raised by the new top scholar. The emperor was happy and sent people to us to try it out. Isn't this making fun of us?"
Businessmen, you and I disagree with everything we say.
"You don't have to be so pessimistic. Although the tax is high, the convenience of the government is not small. If you become an official businessman through this, you may be able to do other business."
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at the speaker in surprise. Other businesses, the salt and iron in the hands of the government, were industries that made people rich.
Can the imperial court provide them with such an industry? It's really a dream in broad daylight.
"Even if it can't be done, the government and businessmen are better protected than we are now. Besides, I thought about it and the court is determined to reform the tax this time. I heard from my relatives in the yamen that the tax reform plan for the imperial envoys should be written Only three generations of officials and businessmen can participate in the imperial examination."
