Zhou Zhiruo remained unmoved as she faintly said, "Without me, you wouldn't be able to display your skills, no matter how capable you are." Her words made Zhao Min's fist hit empty air and she felt stifled in her heart.
Song Qingshu felt his scalp go numb as he thought that asking the two of them at the same time was his biggest mistake. He should've talked to each of them in private.
Seeing that she had gained the upper hand, Zhou Zhiruo looked at Zhao Min with pride before reporting to Song Qingshu as if she was asking for credit. "I've already looked through the resumes of the officials in Jianghuai, and there are many who are corrupt. But considering that Yangzhou has just been annexed, we have to focus on stability. Our focus is still on controlling the army, so we've only made some minor adjustments to those officials. Aside from a few especially disgraceful officials that I killed to warn the others, we haven't touched the rest. We'll slowly settle the score with them after everything has stabilized."
"Well done, stability is indeed the most important thing right now!" Song QingShu couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. After saying that, he looked at Zhao Min in surprise. "You came up with this too? The Princess is truly an all-rounder! "
Zhou Zhiruo's face darkened, while Zhao Min couldn't help chuckling. "I'm asking for credit from you, but I never thought that you'd directly give the credit to this Princess. Hehehe ~ Looks like I'm smarter and more reliable than some people in your heart."
Feeling the killing intent behind him, Song Qingshu felt a chill down his spine and instantly changed his words. "But Zhiruo, you're even more amazing to be able to command such a powerful person to work for you."
Hearing his words, Zhou Zhiruo's face looked better, but Zhao Min's face darkened.
"What about taxes?" Song Qingshu secretly wiped his cold sweat and quickly changed the topic.
"Taxes are more troublesome." Zhou Zhiruo frowned. "Although Jianghuai is rich, most of the land is concentrated in the hands of the gentry. Unfortunately, the previous tax policy gave preferential treatment to those with scholarly honors. The gentry could reduce a lot of taxes, and many poor farmers would attach their land to the gentry to avoid taxes. Over time, it's easy to be annexed by the gentry … The tax collected is much less than the actual amount of land."
"Land annexation? That's a necessary stage in a feudal society. It's normal." Song Qingshu began to ponder. Although he understood the inevitability of this, he still had to think of a way to solve this problem. He did not want to go to war without pay and follow in the footsteps of Chong Zhen.
"Actually, it's easy to solve this problem," Zhao Min suddenly said.
"How to solve it?" Zhou Zhiruo had been having a headache over this problem recently, so she asked subconsciously.
Raising her chin, Zhao Min's eyes flashed with a trace of pride. "Beg me!"
Zhou Zhiruo's breath stopped, and she directly turned her head away, choosing to ignore it.
Song Qingshu smiled bitterly. "Princess, don't keep us in suspense. Tell us."
"Hmph, seeing that you have a good attitude, I'll teach you a few things." Seeing that Zhou Zhiruo was saying that she was ignoring it, but was actually listening attentively, Zhao Min's smile was very bright. "Our Mongolian Empire has a vast territory, and taxation is also a big problem. In the beginning, we improved on the taxation method of you Han people, but the effect wasn't very good. Later on, the Han people came up with an idea and invented a new method of taxation, which is to raise the tax rate to a very high level."
"Tsk, what good idea did I have at that time?" Zhou Zhiruo sneered. "If we raise the tax rate, won't the lower class people revolt?"
"Why are you so impatient? I haven't finished yet." Zhao Min rolled her eyes at her and continued, "This tax rate is very high, and it's true that ordinary people can't afford it. However, the imperial court will set up an organization that can issue loans to the people to pay the tax. At the same time, they will extend the repayment period appropriately. Of course, the longer the repayment period, the higher the interest."
"Won't this make life difficult for the people? Won't they still revolt? "Zhou Zhiruo frowned.
"Of course not." Zhao Min suddenly laughed coldly. "The lower class people are animals that are content. As long as there is a choice, they won't revolt. The imperial court is lending them money to give them a choice."
"Isn't this multi-layered exploitation?" Zhou Zhiruo was very unhappy. "You Mongolians are really vampires."
"So what?" Zhao Min did not care at all. "The weak are prey to the strong. This method may seem inhumane, but the tax we collect is ten times more than what you Han people do. The Mongolian treasury is full, and we can organize a stronger army to conquer more countries."
"Rude barbarians." Zhou Zhiruo snorted. She had to admit that there was a reason why the Mongolians were so powerful.
Song Qingshu had a strange expression when he heard this. The imperial court borrowing money from the people to pay taxes. Why did it sound like a mortgage in the future?
"The princess's plan is very reasonable …" Song Qingshu praised Zhao Min and suddenly changed the topic. "But this method is too advanced. If we're not careful, we can easily kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. It might not be a problem in the short term, but after a decade or so, all kinds of problems will occur. When that time comes, the people won't be able to survive, and the country will be in danger of collapsing."
There were many economists, mathematicians, and political geniuses in the future who were calculating the model of the real estate market. Even so, there were occasional economic crises all over the world.
In today's world, Song Qingshu did not believe that there were so many scientists who could solve this extremely complicated financial system. At most, the people in the past had just started to get involved in this field. They were still trying to figure out all the experience, and there would definitely be many big problems in the future.
Historically, Mongolia had adopted the tax policy of the Hui people. In the beginning, they did enjoy some benefits, but later on, there was a serious upheaval, and they had to give up on this method.
Although Zhao Min was smart, she was still limited by the times. She felt that this tax method was very effective. She told Song Qingshu everything, but he did not appreciate it. She could not help but feel angry. "Hmph, you think this won't work, and that won't work. Looks like you have an idea?"
"I have a few ideas. Let me think about it first." Song Qingshu's mind was racing, and he did not notice the change in Zhao Min's emotions.
Seeing that he was taking advantage of the situation, Zhao Min snorted and turned her head. She decided not to give this b * stard any ideas in the future. Zhou Zhiruo, on the other hand, was in high spirits. It was obvious that she was happy to see this situation.
Song Qingshu did not notice the undercurrent between the two women. He began to carefully think about the tax problem. The first idea that came to his mind was to beat up the local tyrants and divide the land. The path that Taizu had taken back then proved to be practical and effective. It brought out the enthusiasm of the vast number of farmers, and it would explode with terrifying power.
However, he quickly dispelled this idea. It was not the right time yet. The reason why Taizu was successful back then was because of internal and external troubles. China was facing an unprecedented change in a thousand years, and it had reached a point where there could be no construction without destruction.
In this world, the scholar-official class controlled a large amount of wealth. At the same time, almost all the talented people came from the gentry class. If they were completely offended, they could just escape to other countries. In addition, the gentry class also controlled the public opinion. At that time, he would really become a butcher.
It must be known that Li Zicheng's mistake was not far away. Chong Zhen did not make a move on the gentry in the capital even when he was out of ammunition and food. In the end, Li Zicheng plundered tens of millions of silver from the gentry families when he entered the city of Beijing. Although he felt good for a while, he was regarded as an irreconcilable enemy by the scholar-officials of the world. On the contrary, the Manchurian Qing treated these gentry very well. Therefore, they all became the leaders of the Manchurian Qing. Because the gentry's clans were very powerful in their local areas, with them as the vanguard, the Manchurian Qing was able to sweep the world with tens of thousands of Eight Banners Army.
Song Qingshu still needed the gentry class to help govern the place. He needed the support of the gentry class to conquer the world. After all, the peasants in this world did not have any culture at all. It was possible to count on them to become roving bandits and loot, but it was really impossible to count on them to do great things.
He did not want to become Li Zicheng, so he could only give up the tempting idea of the future.
"Do you have any ideas or not? If not, use mine." Zhao Min waited at the side. Seeing that he did not speak, she suddenly became a little impatient.
"Of course I do!" Song Qingshu had already sorted out his thoughts and directly replied, "We can use the method of 'never increasing taxes' and 'spreading the people's land' to work together."
"What do you mean?" The two girls looked confused.
Song Qingshu explained, "I used to be just a common person. Now that I have the ability, I naturally have to consider the lives of the common people. Never increasing taxes is mainly to reduce the burden of the common people. Of course, it is also to win the hearts of the people. In the future, when the common people of other countries hear that we are going, they will greet the imperial army with food."
Zhou Zhiruo had also lived at the bottom of society in the past, so she strongly agreed with his idea. "That's right. Now that the world is in chaos, the common people are faced with all kinds of exorbitant taxes and levies, and they often have to raise taxes. They have long been suffering unspeakably. Qingshu, it is really admirable that you can think of them. I … I also like it very much."
Zhao Min could not help but say sourly, "Anyone can have a reputation, but if you want face, you can't have substance. If you don't increase taxes, when the time comes, there will be no money and army pay, and you can only be trampled on in the disputes between the various countries. Maybe there will be another Song Xianggong in history."
"So this can only be solved by 'spreading the people' to work on the land '." Song Qingshu explained unhurriedly, "In the past, the tax was collected by the 'head tax'. The number of people paid the tax according to the number of people. However, often the poor people have a few people in a family, and the gentry have a dozen people in a family. The wealth of the two sides is countless levels apart, so it is unreasonable to calculate the tax according to the number of people. If the tax is paid according to the number of acres of land owned, then not only can it reduce the burden of the poor people, but it can also greatly enrich the national treasury, and the tax collected will be far more than before."
It was the Qing Dynasty that never increased taxes and allowed people to enter the fields. Although the Qing Dynasty's weakness towards the Han Chinese and later the Western powers became an indelible black mark, from the perspective of a feudal dynasty, some of its systems were much better than many of the previous dynasties.
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