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Before Ang Lee came, he felt that Li Shizhi suddenly wanted to see him, not just to talk about the old days, but for some other purpose. When he heard that there was something important, he hurriedly asked what it was.
"Dalang! Don't worry. Come on, have a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up. "
Li Shizhi was not in a hurry to say what was on his mind. Instead, he let Ang Lee drink the tea and poured a cup for Ang Lee himself.
Li An took the tea and felt like crying. The tea of this era used tea cakes as the main ingredient. Salt, sauces, vinegar, and other condiments were added, and even milk was added. These complex tastes mixed together to form a unique and strong taste. Li An disliked this kind of strong taste. Drinking this kind of thing was even more painful than drinking medicine.
But after all, this was Li Shizhi's kind intention. If Ang Lee did not drink it, Li Shizhi would be very unhappy. Therefore, Ang Lee finally gritted his teeth and drank the soup.
"What's wrong? Dalang, you don't seem to like tea. Is it not good to drink the tea with fresh milk?"
Li Shizhi asked doubtfully. How could he not see Ang Lee's reluctance? He had seen countless people.
Ang Lee wanted to say that the tea was worse than soup, but in order not to hurt Li Shizhi's kindness, he said against his will, "Sixth Weng, you don't know. I don't like to drink tea that is too strong. In fact, light tea is the best."
"Light tea? Have you drunk it before? "
Li Shizhi asked curiously.
"Sixth Weng, I have drunk it before, but I haven't seen this kind of tea for many years. If I have a chance in the future, I will make some for you to try."
The light tea that Li An was talking about was the tea leaves of the future. It could also be called fried tea, which was much more advanced than the tea cakes of this era. It was also much easier to drink. After all, the tea they just drank was a salty soup that was hard to swallow. It tasted even worse than decoctions.
"Okay, if I have the chance, I'll definitely try the light tea that Dalang mentioned, haha!"
Li Shizhi had just been promoted to the position of Left Prime Minister not too long ago. He was highly valued by Emperor Li Longji and even had the tendency to be on par with Li Linfu. Therefore, he was naturally in a very good mood.
Ang Lee didn't care about the tea. He was more concerned about why Li Shizhi was looking for him, so he asked, "Liu Aweng, you just said that there was something important, and you drank the tea. Is it …"
Li Shizhi nodded. "In fact, it's not a big deal. I'm just taking you to see someone, a very important person. Moreover, this matter can't be delayed. Otherwise, it's very likely that you won't be able to see him."
"I won't be able to see an important person if I'm late. Who is this person?"
Ang Lee suddenly felt very curious. Looking at Li Shizhi's tone, the person he wanted to meet seemed to be dying. Then who was this person?
"Dalang! The person I'm taking you to see is not an outsider. He is a famous general of the Tang dynasty, Prince Xinan, Li Yi. He can be regarded as your Aweng. If you see him, just call him Da Aweng. He will be very happy. "
When Li Shizhi mentioned Li Yi, a look of reverence suddenly appeared on his face. Obviously, he worshipped and respected Li Yi very much and regarded him as his idol.
Ang Lee was quite familiar with the history of the Tang dynasty. Of course, he knew that Prince Xinan, Li Yi, was the grandson of Emperor Taizong's third son, Prince Wu, Li Ke. This man was very talented and was a famous general in the middle of the Tang dynasty. He made great contributions to Emperor Xuanzong. After he died of illness, Emperor Xuanzong was sad for a long time.
Not only did Li Yi have outstanding military achievements, but he also had an excellent character and was an honest official. When he was a civil official, he governed the area in an orderly manner. Whether it was the officials or the people, they respected and trusted him.
After that, because of his outstanding ability, he was promoted again and again. When he was appointed as the Shuofang Jiedushi, he led the army to defeat the Tufan army many times. Especially when he attacked Stone Castle City from thousands of miles away. At a very small price, he captured this strategic place, which made the Tufan people terrified and beg for reconciliation.
In the 20th year of Kaiyuan, Li Yi was ordered to lead the army to conquer the Xi and Khitan. When the Tang Army's vanguard was defeated, he decisively led the main army to launch a counterattack and won the victory at Baobai Mountain. He defeated the Xi and Khitan and killed many prisoners. He quelled the rebellion of Khitan in one fell swoop.
Such an outstanding figure of the Tang dynasty was the pride of the Tang Empire and the royal family of the Tang dynasty. Ang Lee respected Li Yi very much in his previous life. When he came to the Tang dynasty, his respect did not decrease. If he could visit Li Yi, it would be a worthwhile trip to the Tang dynasty.
"Liu Aweng, when are we going to visit Da Aweng?"
Ang Lee agreed without hesitation.
"This matter should not be delayed. Let's do it tomorrow morning! You come to my mansion first and we will go together. "
Li Shizhi said without hesitation.
"Yes, Liu Aweng. Let's do it tomorrow morning."
Seeing Ang Lee being so straightforward, Li Shizhi smiled with satisfaction and let Ang Lee eat some snacks. Strong tea was not good, but the snacks tasted very good and tasted very good in the mouth.
When Li Shizhi invited Ang Lee, he had already expressed that he wanted to talk about the old days. After deciding to visit Li Yi early the next morning, of course, he wanted to continue to persuade Ang Lee to stay and chat with Ang Lee enthusiastically.
Most of the topics were nothing more than praising Ang Lee's achievements at a young age, lamenting the deep feelings between Ang Lee and Ah Weng when he was a child, the incomparable grief for his second brother's disappearance, and the excitement of seeing his second brother's descendants.
Ang Lee was also very cooperative. Whenever Li Shizhi talked about Li Jing, Ang Lee always made a sad expression to show his longing for Ah Weng, which made Li Shizhi very satisfied.
It should be known that filial piety was very important in ancient times. If a person was not filial, he or she would not be able to survive in the whole society. Therefore, many officials often observed three years of mourning for their parents' death.
During this period, the imperial court gave them a salary, which meant that they got three years' salary without working. Nominally, they were mourning, but in fact, they were slacking off for three years. This was also a kind of benefit!
As the Left Prime Minister of the imperial court, it was his duty to care about the imperial court's affairs. After contacting each other, Li Shizhi happily talked about all kinds of important matters in the imperial court.
Because he had just been valued by the Emperor, Li Shizhi was very proud and excited when talking about all kinds of political affairs in the imperial court, as if the whole Tang dynasty was in his hands.
Ang Lee also heard that Li Shizhi was indeed very knowledgeable, and the various policies and suggestions he put forward were all for the current imperial court. Unfortunately, he did not seem to understand Li Longji's heart, nor did he understand how to survive better in the imperial court. He only considered the benefits of the Tang dynasty and did not consider how many people he would offend, which would certainly make it difficult for him to survive in the long run.
Li Shizhi also saw through some of the crises of the Tang dynasty, but he could not find a solution, which made him a little worried, especially the problem of land annexation, which was very serious.
At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, every citizen was given enough land. In this way, in order to keep their land, the people had to actively join the army, and all the expenses of the army depended on the income of the family's land. After losing their land, every family naturally could not support the men in their family to join the army, so they had to flee, which made the army system unsustainable. The imperial court had to spend money to hire an army, which increased the burden of the imperial court.
Moreover, the tax system of the Tang dynasty was rent adjustment. The tax was calculated according to the person, not according to the actual land owned. In this way, the people who owned little land or no land could not complete the task of rent adjustment, so they had to flee. In order to make up for the tax loss, the imperial court would let the neighbors pay the tax, which would cause more people to flee, further exacerbating the crisis.
In fact, in the case of the same social productivity, the total wealth of the society was so much that the total amount would not change much. The consequence of land annexation was a transfer of wealth. The wealth of the nobles increased sharply, and the common people became poorer and poorer. The tax system remained unchanged, which led to a sharp decline in the imperial court's financial income.
In order to make up for the gap in financial income, the imperial court had to increase the tax, which made the common people's burden heavier and forced them to flee. This affected the social productivity, which led to the gradual reduction of the total wealth of the whole society.
In this case, the decline of the national power was inevitable, but it was not felt by people because of the huge total amount and the concentration of wealth.
Looking at the prosperity of Chang 'an, the rich people squandered money like water, and the national power and material resources of the Tang Empire, no one noticed that in more places, there were tragedies of families selling their sons and daughters and fleeing for their lives.
The land annexation of the Tang dynasty had been going on for more than a hundred years, and the equal-field system had been completely destroyed. This was an irreversible fact, and the solution was to reform the tax system. The tax was collected according to the amount of land owned, not according to the number of people.
In this way, the more land the nobles annexed, the more taxes they had to pay. In this way, the imperial court would not lose tax revenue and the common people would be forced to flee because of land annexation, and they would become tenants and slaves.
Ang Lee told Li Shizhi about his idea of tax reform. After hearing it, Li Shizhi suddenly understood. In the past, he had only repeatedly advised the emperor to restrain the nobles from annexing land in order to maintain the equal-field system and let the common people have land to cultivate. Li Longji had also repeatedly issued edicts to prohibit the nobles from annexing land, and no one was allowed to occupy more than the prescribed land in violation of regulations. However, the phenomenon of under-reporting and under-reporting was very serious. Many officials, who could only own a few hundred acres of land according to their official positions, actually owned more than ten thousand acres of land. The most powerful nobles even owned hundreds of thousands of acres of land.
It was difficult to make these nobles spit out the land that they had already annexed. It could also be said that it was impossible. Therefore, although Li Longji had issued several orders, it did not alleviate the trend of the equal-field system being destroyed. On the contrary, it became more and more serious.
After all, in ancient times, land was the most important and core resource. Food was the most important thing for the people. Only with enough land could there be enough food. This was also why all the nobles and officials, as long as they had money, would do everything possible to obtain land.
The people's thirst for land made the purchase and sale of land difficult to stop. Even if the emperor personally issued an edict, this trend could not be changed.
"Dalang, did you think of this yourself?"
Li Shizhi looked at Ang Lee in disbelief.
Ang Lee nodded and admitted it against his will. In fact, this tax system was proposed by a person named Yang Yan during the Dezong period of the Tang dynasty. It was very suitable for the current Tang dynasty. However, Yang Yan was still a teenager at the moment. He was estimated to be four or five years younger than Ang Lee. Of course, he did not have any strategy. Ang Lee could be considered to have picked up a bargain.
Li Shizhi's face was full of excitement. He said seriously, "Dalang! You really woke me up from my dream! I thought for many years that the shortcut to solving this problem was to control the nobles' annexation of land. I didn't expect there to be a better way. As long as we collect taxes according to the amount of land, the people will naturally not flee. The nobles' idea of annexing land will also be weakened a lot. It's really a wonderful way! "
While Li Shizhi was rejoicing, Li An frowned and said, "Liu Aweng, you flatter me. Although this method is good, to a certain extent, it will harm the interests of the nobles, especially those who own hundreds of thousands of acres of land. They will definitely oppose it. Therefore, reforming the tax system is easy to say, but it will not be easy to do it well. The process may be very tortuous and difficult."
Li Shizhi nodded and agreed, "Dalang, you are right. Those nobles who have annexed hundreds of thousands of acres of land will definitely oppose the tax reform. However, this is a policy that will benefit the country and the people, especially to enrich the national treasury. At least His Majesty and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue will definitely support it. Therefore, it is not as difficult as you think. The key is the details of the implementation. We must consider it very carefully and must not leave any loopholes."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Liu Aweng is right. Many nobles hide the land they own. Therefore, to implement the tax reform, we must first measure the land in the country and find out how much land each person owns. If the land is ownerless or unrecognized, it will be returned to the imperial court. This is the premise of implementing the tax reform. If someone obstructs the tax reform, he will be immediately arrested and punished. The rest will naturally be frightened."
Ang Lee had been fighting for many years. He had seen too many peasants who had lost their land. Even the servants employed in his manor were peasants who had lost their land. Therefore, Ang Lee could deeply feel how inappropriate the current tax policy of the Tang dynasty was and how urgent it was to be reformed. Ang Lee had been thinking about this for a long time. At this time, chatting with Li Shizhi was a good opportunity to talk about this idea and win support.
"Dalang! As for the tax reform, we still need to discuss it more, especially the specific details. We must be very careful. Well, the bean sprouts and water spinach are ready. I also have some good wine here. Let's have a good meal first. Don't be polite with Liu Weng. "
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