Traveling through ancient times: starting with live streaming

Chapter 526 Prince Yi’s “Reputation”

Zhou Chang was also spitting, "There is one more thing. It's OK for the royal family, but those officials and nobles were forbidden to do business by the imperial court. However, because they hold privileges, they all run businesses privately, and the amount is often huge. They don't pay taxes to the imperial court. In this case, why doesn't the imperial court make a one-size-fits-all rule? As long as a sum of money appears, it must be over one million taels, regardless of whether it is business or trade. As long as it is exposed, it means that it has changed hands and must pay taxes, and collect 60%. Wouldn't that be good?"

"Sixty percent?" The Emperor was once again surprised by Prince Yi's "courage", but when he thought about what a considerable income it would be if it really worked, he couldn't hold back his excitement. However, it was obviously not feasible. "It's good... but for such a large transaction, how can I know about it since it's private?"

"How could they not know?" Zhou Chang asked, "For a transaction of more than one million taels of silver, could they have moved cash? Those people would have used bills and drafts. Even if they were willing to move cash to avoid taxes, one million taels of silver would require at least ten carriages and horses, not counting the guards. So how could the local government not know about such a big commotion?"

"Having said that, once this policy is implemented, if everyone splits up their silver and money into small pieces, then it won't be possible to collect the money." Even if Emperor Lin was dumb, it would not be difficult for him to think of the obvious loophole.

Zhou Chang's item can be said to be specially designed for kidnappers, as kidnappers do not have enough time and patience to break the whole into pieces.

But he couldn't say it openly, so he had to make up a reason: "That's why I want a golden decree from the emperor. If someone intends to do this, as long as I hear about it, I can confiscate all the silver he has divided into several parts at once in the name of 'refusing to pay taxes'. Wouldn't that be better?"

"My son is really smart, and his idea is very good." The emperor couldn't help but clap his hands in joy when he heard it, but he still had reason and looked serious, "However, if you are so ruthless and high-pressure, will it be...? Shouldn't the Ministry of Revenue also send someone to supervise?"

Zhou Chang’s idea was good, but given Prince Yi’s past reputation of “leaving traces when the wind blows and plucking feathers when the geese pass by”, he also knew what the Emperor Lin might be worried about.

He was well prepared, and acted in an upright manner, not afraid of being supervised: "It's good that your Majesty wants to send someone from the Ministry of Revenue to supervise, or even transfer someone from the Ministry of Revenue to the Jin Cao. Anyway, if your Majesty agrees, the Jin Cao will be greatly short of manpower, and I will have to go find someone this afternoon."

Emperor Lin was very satisfied with Prince Yi's attitude: "Ming'er has finally grown up..."

Zhou Chang took the opportunity to speak again: "However, Father, the idea was proposed by me, and you must agree to it. You cannot let others do it. Moreover, I will leave the imperial city to Yuebei in three days. One more day of delay means one less day of income."

Such enthusiasm touched the heart of Emperor Lin. Of course, the matter of collecting money was the most urgent matter. He said repeatedly: "Okay, okay, okay..."

Zhou Chang went further: "In addition, I will take 10% of the taxes I have collected from running around to support the construction of dams in the south to ensure the smooth completion of the dam project."

Even in this situation, she did not forget the fact that Prince Yi's Mansion was still short of money.

Of course, this is also thanks to Zhong Yu's reminder.

Now that Emperor Lin had heard Prince Yi's conditions, he felt more at ease.

I know that Prince Yi would not waste so much effort in vain. He must have some ulterior motives, otherwise it would be abnormal.

Some time ago, the drawings and plans of the Ministry of Works were submitted. The cost of the dam project, which was originally thought to be three or four million taels of silver, was directly increased to ten million taels.

The terrain south of Peishui is complex, with many rivers. Building one dam cannot solve the problem, and it is unknown how many dams will be built downstream. This can only be regarded as a preliminary project. Once construction begins, it is unknown how much money will be needed to fill it in the future.

When Zhou Chang heard this, his eyes rolled back and he thought he was dead.

For this reason, Emperor Lin also turned a blind eye to the project that had already been put on the agenda. After all, asking him to pay money was like peeling off his skin and cutting his flesh.

And now that Zhou Chang has proposed such a solution, why not do it?

Emperor Lin has always been indecisive and likes to think before and after, but it is rare for him to agree to this matter outright.

Zhou Chang did not expect that things would go so smoothly. Although his goal was achieved, he came up with such "three immoral taxes" and he didn't know how many people would stab Prince Yi in the back. There was nothing to be happy about.

However, if this was the price she had to pay to rescue Yuan Yu, then she had no reason to complain.

Emperor Lin nodded, and Zhou Chang turned around and went to the Jincaosi and the Ministry of Revenue to "code people".

We need to form a team first so we can set off as soon as possible.

Except for the director Fan Ye and Yuan Yun's uncle who stayed behind in the Jincao Division, all the rest who could ride horses were brought along by Zhou Chang.

As for the Ministry of Revenue, the new Minister of Revenue, the smiling Buddha-like Song Ming, did nothing but laugh it off and showed no intention of cooperating at all.

Zhou Chang had no hope at all, so he threw down a sentence and turned back to look for Fan Ye.

He directly bypassed the Ministry of Personnel and asked Fan Ye to post an official document to directly recruit and deploy troops. The requirements were that they could ride horses and have some martial arts skills.

Zhou Chang now really needs a group of his own people, a group of people who only obey his orders.

From this perspective, it is understandable that Wen Qingyan "sold himself" in exchange for military power, but no matter how you look at it, it is not worth it.

If Zhou Chang's idea was followed, they should set off in three days.

But in reality, after much trouble, it was not until the tenth day that we were able to leave Jindu.

Most of the time was spent on various court systems.

First, the central government was urged to draft a formal decree, which could only be implemented after the emperor stamped it.

Then he urged the Ministry of Personnel to issue a gold medal, and urged the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel and other relevant departments to issue imperial decrees.

Fortunately, Zhou Chang, under the guise of Prince Yi, did everything himself, followed behind and urged people to get things done, and was not afraid of offending anyone. In the end, he got all the necessary matters done.

However, these are nothing.

After all, Prince Duan's party would not jump out to make trouble, and no one else would come out to drag his feet. Moreover, as long as it involves collecting money, the court is unanimous and no one will easily stand up to oppose it. After all, this is the "favorite" of the Emperor Lin.

However, once the "three immoral taxes" came out, Prince Yi's "bad reputation" spread like wildfire, and everyone cursed Feng Ming to death.

Not only that, rumors were spreading, and some of the worst were turned into jokes that circulated on the streets.

No matter what, the former Princess Yi left and took away all the dowry. Prince Yi was furious and wanted to take revenge, otherwise he would not have come up with such a perverted tax. It is obvious that it is aimed at the Yuan family.

After all, there are only a few companies in the world that can regularly have transaction volumes of over one million.

Zhou Chang didn't care about this at all.

After knowing this, Zhong Yuze fainted.

After the people woke up, Zhou Chang had to comfort them. The most important thing was that she was about to leave, and the Prince Yi's Mansion would still depend on Zhong Yu to take care of it.

In the end, Zhong Yu had no choice. The imperial edict had already been issued. Even if he did not support it, what could he do?

However, in a short period of time, Jin Caosi Director Fan Ye tried to gather thirty people by pulling together some from here and there, but it was not until later that the Minister of Revenue Song Ming came to his senses and sent a few people over, and finally the number was reached.

Zhou Chang asked Gao Yuan to secretly transfer all the troops that Yidanxing could mobilize, select a few reliable soldiers, hire a few reliable people from the martial arts world, and gather another twenty people.

In this way, a team of fifty people is considered a team.

Zhou Chang received the token made by the Ministry of Personnel "overtime". The front was engraved with "Si Cao Jin Ling" and the back was engraved with "Taizai Mushou".

I thought this plate should be made of gold, but when I weighed it in my hand I realized the weight was wrong, it was actually made of copper.

However, this token alone is nothing special. It has to be coordinated with the official documents of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel to be serious, so we can't care about it.

After everything was finally ready, Zhou Chang took Gao Yuan and Shou Hou, and led a "majestic" team of fifty people, and set off northward.