Great Tang Dynasty

Chapter 586
In today's Tang Dynasty, more men farm and women weave.

And a female weaving illustrates a problem, that is, many ordinary women in the Tang Dynasty usually do weaving.

If this kind of thing that takes up more of a woman's time in daily life can improve efficiency, it will be much higher in improving the living standards of the people in the entire Tang Dynasty.

After Gao Shilian said this, he slightly raised his head and glanced at Li Shimin. Seeing that Li Shimin was a little moved, he continued: "My lord, because of these looms, the fabrics of Lord Qin's family are very cheap, but the fabrics woven by ordinary people are very cheap. Cloth, but it can’t be made cheaper. If they are cheap, they won’t make money. So, by doing this, Qin Houye is forcing these people to a dead end, so the best way is to take the loom invented by Qin Houye. If it is popularized, there will be more fabrics, and we can export them to other places, and these common people can also increase their income.”

Gao Shilian praised and criticized, which made Li Shimin feel that no matter from which point of view, the popularization of this loom is a very meaningful thing.

Li Shimin glanced at Gao Shilian. Of course, he also knew Gao Shilian's intentions. Qin Tian's fabrics are cheap, so Gao Shilian's business may be difficult, right?
In fact, from the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there was a rule that officials were not allowed to do business, because officials doing business would easily lead to corruption problems, but this kind of thing was repeatedly banned. As long as there were no major problems, the court would turn a blind eye up.

But that doesn't mean the court doesn't know anything.

Li Shimin knew what Gao Shilian meant, but undoubtedly, what he said was very reasonable.

After thinking about it, Li Shimin said: "I already know, well, you go back, I will talk to Qin Tian about it."

Li Shimin didn't agree immediately, Gao Shilian was somewhat disappointed, but he still agreed and retreated.

The rain was still falling, and it didn't let up.

Here in Shangshu Province, Tang Jian, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, brought Qin Tian the tax list for the first half of the first year of Zhenguan.

These lists include many, including food taxes in various places and commercial taxes.

Qin Tian frowned slightly after reading it.

Because Li Shimin had just ascended the throne, he had reduced or exempted taxes in some places, so it is impossible to have too much food. However, the income of the Ministry of Households in this area is also a little bit too little, which made him a little doubtful whether Li Shimin took all the people's money. Taxes are exempted.

According to his understanding of the fertile fields of the Tang Dynasty and the law of tax reduction and exemption, this year's grain income should be at least twice that listed by Tang Jian.

The commercial tax is also a little small. Although the commercial tax is not easy to control and control, and because of the war, many places may be affected, it is impossible to be so small.

After looking at it like this, Qin Tian raised his head and said, "Master Tang, is there any problem with these taxes?"

Tang Jian was taken aback, shook his head and said, "No, everything was collected according to the regulations, there is no problem."

"Then why are there so few food and commercial taxes?"

"This... Lord Hou, that's all."

Tang Jian really didn't know what to say. This was the same as usual and in previous years. He thought Qin Tian was paying attention to this for the first time, so he didn't know.

Qin Tian shook his head and said, "Show me the situation of land expropriation."

Tang Jian curled his lips, thinking that Qin Tian was really looking for trouble. Could there be something wrong with the things he was responsible for?

However, he still brought it to Qin Tian. It was a book, which stated that the land in that place was exempt from tax, and the land in that place was not exempt from tax.

Qin Tian took it over and took a closer look. After looking at it, Qin Tian frowned, because there were too many lands exempted from taxes.

These are completely contrary to some edicts issued by the imperial court.

He looked again at the land that was exempted from taxes, and after reading it like this, he pointed to these lands and said, "Master Tang, if I remember correctly, these lands have not been exempted from taxes this year, have they?" ,How is this going?"

Tang Jian glanced at the places Qin Tian pointed at, and said, "These are monastery lands, and the monastery does not collect taxes."

Monks have always asked others for money, and no one has ever asked monks for money, and the imperial court is no exception. Therefore, the imperial court does not collect taxes on monastery properties.

Qin Tian frowned slightly. He knew a little bit about this situation, but he didn't expect that the monastery had so much land.

"Master Tang, these monasteries are quite rich, they actually have so much land."

The land of the monastery ranges from a few thousand mu to tens of thousands of mu, and most of them are fertile land. The annual income of these is not low.

Tang Jian saw that there was something in Qin Tian's words, and he began to pay attention to it, saying: "Master Hou didn't know something. The chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the world's disputes made life difficult for many people. They hid in monasteries and became monks one after another. The land was also brought over. The temple was a piece of paradise in the era of strife. At that time, the population dropped sharply, and a lot of land became unclaimed land. There were many people in these temples, so they slowly occupied them for themselves."

Speaking of this, Tang Jian smiled wryly again: "Although the state religion of our Tang Dynasty is Taoism, the development of Buddhism is not weak, and there are more folk believers. Therefore, there are many large-scale temples in the entire Tang Dynasty. There is naturally a lot of land."

In troubled times, people tend to think about avoiding disasters, so there are many Buddhists in troubled times, because it gives their hearts a habitat and allows them to temporarily forget the pain in the world.

It is not difficult to find that in China for thousands of years, as long as it is a troubled time, Buddhism will develop rapidly, and the development will be huge. However, once the society stabilizes, those rulers will destroy the Buddha.

There is no way. Their existence has affected the status of feudal rulers and some economic development. If they are not destroyed, the country cannot be strong.

If everyone hides from the world, how can the Great Tang develop?

Now, ten years after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, we also encountered such a problem. Of course, this kind of problem is not very obvious now, and it has not aroused Li Shimin's idea.

But this year's tax reduction by the Ministry of Household Affairs is already a clue.

Qin Tian frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything more about this question. Exterminating the Buddha has never been an easy task, let alone talking about it casually, so one must be cautious.

"Master Tang, why are there not many business taxes?"

"Master Hou, this is the same as usual, there is nothing missing, this is true, not fake at all." Speaking of this, Tang Jian smiled wryly: "However, Lord Hou should also be clear that such things as tax evasion are serious crimes. It has been banned repeatedly, and our imperial court wants to absolutely prohibit it, but we can't do it, otherwise, these incomes will definitely increase a lot."

(End of this chapter)