Fenghou

Chapter 889 Financial Resources
Chen Qing was greatly touched by today's investigation. He at least knew the life of the people at the bottom. The family's monthly income was about [-] Wen, and they had to pay rent and various expenses. I can't go to restaurants, teahouses, or theaters. I'm frugal, and I can only have two or three hundred cash left over every month. Life is very difficult.

Of course, they are not the worst. The worst people are even more miserable than them, but there are very few people like that and they don’t have much reference value. You can’t use the rich or the poorest people to make decisions, you must use the bottom. Zhang Ping's family is the most typical sample.

But even so, the people in the Central Plains and Hebei are very envious. At least there is no war, at least they can eat enough and wear warmth. The Bianliang in Tokyo during the Xuanhe period was nothing more than that.

Once the war came, all businesses would immediately wither, and the wealthy and businessmen would be slaughtered by the Jurchens like pigs. Without production and employment, the majority of people at the bottom would lose their source of livelihood and struggle to survive.

But there are also gains. Chen Qing knows that there is still room for tax increases in indirect taxes. If salt is increased by ten yuan per catty, the impact on the cost of living for the lower class people is almost negligible, but the population base is huge, and every household cannot live without it. It is no wonder that salt tax has become the largest tax in all dynasties until the appearance of tobacco.

Leaving the Southwest District, Chen Qing returned to the official office. Chen Qing's official office is still in the same team, with two plaques. It is not only the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shanxi, but also the Yongwang Mansion. It is a palace with an area of ​​[-] mu. Mu is the official government office, and the [-] mu behind it is Chen Qing's mansion.

But now the government office is not enough, so another government office covering an area of ​​[-] mu was built on both sides, one is the military department department, and the other is the planning and financial transfer department. Now the construction is almost completed, including the expansion of the city wall. At the end, a tall new city wall was erected, which increased the circumference of Jingzhao City from more than [-] miles to more than [-] miles, and suddenly increased the land in the hands of the government.

As soon as he arrived at the gate of the official office, a soldier came to report, "My lord, Madam said something urgent, please go back."

"I'm going back right now!"

Chen Qing also happened to be looking for his wife and Zhao Qiaoyun in the afternoon. When he was away from Jingzhao for half a year, the important memorials were all reviewed by the two of them. He still needed to hear reports on many important things.
Chen Qing turned around the alley and went directly to his house. Chen Qing's family members still live in the Qifeng Pavilion. During Chen Qing's absence in Jingzhao for half a year, Lu Xiu attached great importance to safety and insisted that all his family members live in the pavilion.

Just as Chen Qing walked into Qifeng Pavilion, his wife Lu Xiu walked up to her husband. Seeing her husband's nervous face, she smiled and said, "I shouldn't be in a hurry to let my husband come back. In fact, it's not too late to talk about it at night."

"Now tell me! What happened?"

"Yingluo is pregnant."

"what?"

Chen Qing was stunned, and immediately asked anxiously: "Is it true?"

"Dr. Liu has just been diagnosed. She said that Ying Luo should be three months pregnant. Didn't your husband find out?"

Chen Qing thought about it, and when he came back to Chengdu, Zhao Yingluo was really not feeling well, and he thought she was sick.

"Where is she? I'll go see her."

"She was a little uncomfortable. Just after she fell asleep, Dr. Liu said that she needed to preserve the fetus. If she found out later, the fetus might not be preserved."

Chen Qing felt guilty, Ying Luo was already pregnant, and he and her were still so crazy, really shouldn't!

"How did you find out?"

"She was not feeling well yesterday and today. Qiaoyun and I asked her and found that she was behaving like she was pregnant, so we hurriedly asked Dr. Liu to come. It really was a happy pulse."

Chen Qing was both happy and ashamed, and said: "Let her rest! I'm going to the study, you let Qiaoyun see me, there are two things I want to ask her."

"Am I coming too?"

Chen Qing nodded, "Come together!"

Chen Qing took out a memorial and said with a smile: "I have no intention of overturning your decision, I just want to know the reason. This is the second phase of the city expansion plan. It mentioned that the north city wall will extend three miles to the northwest. What does this mean? ?”

Zhao Qiaoyun thought for a while and said: "This is actually the plan proposed by Counselor Jiang. It is mainly considering the connection with Han Chang'an City, and finally connecting Xinjingzhao City and Han Chang'an City into one."

"I see it says that it will cost [-] guan!"

Zhao Qiaoyun smiled and said: "The officials may not have seen it clearly. The [-] yuan includes the possible expenditure for rebuilding the Han Chang'an City. The ancient city is basically abandoned, but the land is very flat. It is completely possible to build a new city on the ruins and evacuate it. The people of Jingzhao City."

After a pause, Zhao Qiaoyun said again: "In fact, Counselor Jiang still has a memorial, which is the second plan, which is to rebuild a new county on the east bank of Bashui, fifteen miles away from Dongcheng, to accommodate military dependents. Five hundred thousand."

Chen Qing frowned, "I also saw that memorial, but Zhao Kai clearly objected to both memorials."

Zhao Qiaoyun shook his head and said, "As a matter of fact, Counselor Zhao is opposed to all memorials involving property expenses, and no one agrees."

Chen Qing sighed lightly and said, "Five hundred thousand guan, isn't it too expensive?"

Lu Xiu next to him smiled and said, "The five hundred thousand guan is not to be given out this year, but divided into ten years, with an average of only [-] guan per year."

"But [-] guan here, [-] guan there, add up to a lot of expenses."

Zhao Qiaoyun and Lu Xiu looked at each other, Zhao Qiaoyun asked: "Did Counselor Zhao mention to the officials that there is a financial gap of five million guan?"

Chen Qing was slightly surprised: "You also know?"

Zhao Qiaoyun said with a smile: "He wrote a memo last month, requesting to stop all construction support of more than [-] Guan. In his memo, he listed the current financial revenue and expenditure in detail, and mentioned that the current financial There is a shortfall of five million, but we feel that there are some things that are worth discussing."

"Where is it worth discussing?"

"There are mainly two places. One is the income from the Sichuan road salt tax. He used last year's tax money. The figure is wrong. It was the salt tax income under the impact of a large amount of private salt. However, since the suppression of the Sichuan road rebellion, the salt tax income To recover quickly, this year will increase by at least two million crowns compared to last year, and another one million crowns will be added next year to reach the tax amount of the previous year."

Chen Qing secretly scolded Zhao Kaikeng himself. It turned out that the salt tax on Sichuan Road was last year's data. Of course it was not accurate.

Chen Qing regained his energy all of a sudden, and asked with a smile: "Is there anything else worth discussing?"

"It is the purchase of livestock from nomads, and there is double counting."

"Be specific!"

Zhao Qiaoyun smiled and said, "Sister, tell me! You discovered this."

"If you don't remind me, where would I find out?"

Having said that, Lu Xiu was very happy that Zhao Qiaoyun gave her the opportunity, and she knew about it.

"It's like this. There is a piece of meat in the army's food allowance, which is about [-] guan a month, so it will be [-] guan a year, and then the livestock are purchased from nomads, and sheep are mainly bought for the army. It is also a year. Spend [-] pennies, isn't this repeating?"

Chen Qing was a little confused, "Why do I feel that something is still wrong!"

Zhao Qiaoyun giggled and said: "The sheep bought from the grassland were placed in Qingzhou, and they were not directly sent to the military camp, but the sheep sent to the military camp were Qingzhou sheep. Mr. Zhao converted it into an expenditure of [-] yuan. The sheep in the state are all transported from the grasslands and placed in Gyeongju for foster care, and the expenditure has already been calculated, so it cannot be converted a second time."

Only then did Chen Qing realize that he had indeed overcalculated the army's meat expenditure.

"In that case, there is still a shortfall of [-] guan. I plan to increase the price of salt by [-] cents per catty. In this way, the financial gap should be filled."

Zhao Qiaoyun pushed Lu Xiu lightly, and Lu Xiu smiled and said, "Actually, we have already thought of a way to fill the financial gap without raising the price of salt."

Chen Qing was overjoyed, "What do you say?"

Lu Xiu smiled slightly and said, "Jingnan South Road and Jinghu North Road are such a large piece of land, does your husband still want to give up the salt tax to the imperial court?"

(End of this chapter)