Steel Dynasty - Chapter 572

[Chapter 572 Tax System]

Wei Family Restaurant.

Xiao Qi looked at the bustling streets of Qingzhou and felt a little confused. He had sent someone to pass the truce conditions back to Jinling City, but he felt very pessimistic about the results.

In fact, after the failure of the merger, Xiao Han slandered him in Jinling City. His words were just flashy and the merger was just a stupid method.

But despite this, King Wei has not lost his trust in him, but King Wei’s attitude is also very clear. What he wants is for Xiao Ming to withdraw his troops and return to the city. But after seeing the truce today, he suddenly understood that Wei was completely It became the goods traded by Xiao Ming and other vassal kings.

Because of this, he suddenly felt a burst of sadness in his heart. Once upon a time, Wei Di was the leading feudal state in the Chongqing Kingdom, and even Xiao Wenxuan had to be afraid of it. But now Wei Di can only tremble in the shadow of Xiao Ming.

Yes, King Wei has a bit of a hard bone, but in his opinion, no matter how hard these bones are, they can’t stop Xiao Ming’s guns now.

It’s just that King Wei hasn’t gotten over this gap yet. He has always looked down on Xiao Ming, and he is even less willing to surrender to him.

Sighing, Xiao Qi closed his eyes. After Xiao Ming left this time, he suddenly had an ominous premonition. This feeling was weird, but he couldn’t explain it clearly.

However, the ominous premonition soon became a reality. On the third day, he got the news that the Southern Expeditionary Army was attacking Huaizhou.

After hearing the news, he finally understood the meaning of Xiao Ming’s words. As long as a truce was not signed for one day, he would have time to continue to attack the city. At this time, the envoys of King Yan and King Zhao were helpless. After all, this was all caused by him. .

When the King of Wei agreed to this matter, Huaizhou was probably another city on the truce. Thinking of this, he immediately wrote a letter to the King of Wei, urging the King of Wei to agree to the truce.

Otherwise, Wei will only lose more and more cities, and King Yan and King Zhao will not stop Xiao Ming.

In Prince Qi’s Mansion three streets away from the Wei Family Restaurant, Xiao Ming also received news of the Southern Expeditionary Army’s attack on Huaizhou.

“Your Highness, the King of Wei is reaping the consequences this time. We don’t have to be polite. After taking Huaizhou, all the land at the north gate of Wei will be ours, and our fiefdom will have an additional population of one million.” Pang Yukun said.

Xiao Ming nodded. Pengzhou City has a population of 500,000, Tongzhou City has a population of 200,000, and Huaizhou City has a population of about 300,000. The total population is one million. This is equivalent to adding one third person to the feudal country. population, the south is indeed a densely populated place.

If the whole of Wei was swallowed up, he estimated that the population of the feudal country would be as many as seven million, which is basically the same as the population of Britain at this era.

With this population base, he is no longer afraid of the human wave tactics of other vassal kings. However, Huaizhou is now heavily deployed by the King of Wei. It is estimated that it will not be easy for the Southern Expeditionary Army to crack this hard nut.

“I just hope that Lu Fei can capture Huaizhou quickly, but what about the agricultural tax you mentioned last time? Is there anything wrong?”

Conquering the city and plundering the land is important, but internal affairs are the basis for sieging the city and plundering the land, so Xiao Ming You must not dare to relax.

Pang Yukun said: “Your Highness, this time the official came to talk about this matter. The people of the six states did not say anything about the restoration of agricultural taxes. After all, they have paid agricultural taxes before, and our agricultural taxes this time are very low. The people were very happy, so the collection of agricultural taxes went smoothly.”

After a pause, he continued: “However, some people are not willing to pay grain to offset the agricultural taxes, but directly pay money, cloth, raw silk and other things. I don’t know what your Majesty thinks?”

“The common people now know that there is chaos outside, and it is normal to want to keep more food. Besides, the agricultural tax collected by the Chongqing State is to be offset by various materials. Since some people are like this, just accept it.” Ming said thoughtfully.

Pang Yukun nodded and then asked a very important question, “Your Highness, should the collected agricultural taxes be kept in the government office or turned over to the national treasury?”

Xiao Ming was stunned for a moment and asked: “Why do you ask this question?”

Pang Yukun said: “The agricultural taxes in the Chongqing country are kept by the state governments themselves, and the remaining part is turned over to the national treasury. However, the tax method learned at Bowen College is to ask the state governments to hand over all taxes to the state treasury. The treasury will then allocate it to the state governments according to the situation. This tax is a major matter of the country, and the official will only report to His Highness.”

Xiao Ming understood, and he said: “The tax retained by the states will inevitably have the disadvantages of shoddy goods and corruption. In order to prevent the taxes from being withheld in the states and counties, you ask them to submit the accounts and taxes to Qingzhou, and then return part of them to them after the accounts are totaled. “

“In this way, the states and counties will transport these materials. The cost of going to Qingzhou will be very high,” Pang Yukun reminded.

Xiao Ming reacted immediately. He sighed. This era was still too backward, but even so, he still insisted on this method. He had not forgotten that during the Ming Dynasty, tens of millions of taels of silver taxes were withheld at all levels. There are only a few things left.

In any era, corrupt officials are very courageous, but Xiao Ming does not believe that all officials in his feudal country are honest.

In fact, no matter in which dynasty, whether it is the founding or the end of the country, the proportion of corrupt officials in the officialdom is higher than that of honest officials.

“Part of it is sent, and all of it is sent.” Xiao Ming said: “And each village and county must have its own backup of account books for verification.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Pang Yukun said.

Xiao Ming continued: “Pang Shoufu, this tax is the easiest place for officials to take bribes. You have to hurry up. There is no sand in your eyes, and there is no sand in my eyes.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Pang Yukun’s His expression was a little strange. He looked at Xiao Ming and wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.

…

Huaizhou.

While Xiao Ming and Pang Yukun were talking about the peasant tax, the Southern Expedition Army was launching an all-out attack on Huaizhou City.

Just as the intelligence said, King Wei added fifty artillery pieces to Huaizhou City, but these artillery pieces were smashed into pieces by the Qingzhou Army’s artillery before they were used.

Unlike Pengzhou City, the terrain of Huaizhou is very flat, with a flat river.

Facing such a city that didn’t even have a moat, Lu Fei boldly deployed his soldiers in front of the city wall, while Bai Mu’s cavalry was on both sides of the infantry to protect the flanks, because there were three thousand cavalry in Huaizhou City.

In order to defend Huaizhou City this time, King Wei spent a lot of money.

Just talking about cavalry, how can these Huaizhou cavalry be the opponents of the Qingzhou cavalry who have personally fought against the barbarians? When the Southern Expeditionary Army first arrived in Huaizhou City, the Huaizhou Army’s cavalry tried to attack the infantry in formation, but After leaving the corpses on the ground, these cavalrymen hid in the city and never came out.

(End of chapter)