Tibet.

Chapter 1288: Grand Plan
Two days later in the morning, Liu Yan submitted the final draft of the tax reform to the Political Affairs Hall for discussion. The tax system was a major military and political matter, and after being approved by the Political Affairs Hall, it would be submitted to the Military and Political Council for a vote.

It finally came into effect after being signed by Li Ye.

This time, the Political Affairs Hall meeting was held together with the military and political meetings.

Li Ye also participated in the discussion on the tax reform. He had to make some explanations, especially about the household tax reform, which he led. He had to explain it so that the ministers could understand his long-term intentions.

Inside the round hall of the Secretariat, hundreds of officials above the fifth rank gathered together.

Hundreds of officials were listening to the discussion of the nine cabinet ministers in the Political Affairs Hall.

Wei Jiansu knocked on the cloud board with an iron stick, making a crisp sound, and hundreds of people fell silent.

Wei Jiansu smiled and said, "Your Highness the Regent Prince will first give everyone an explanation and a speech. Please welcome Your Highness!"

Li Ye walked in from the side and took his seat, and everyone stood up.

"See Your Highness!"

Li Ye waved his hand, "Everyone, please take a seat!"

He did not sit down, but raised his voice and slowly said to everyone: "The top priority of this tax reform is the household tax reform. Because this is what I proposed, I have to explain it to everyone so that everyone understands why I want to implement the household tax reform."

Everyone listened attentively. This was the first time that the supreme ruler of the Tang Dynasty explained the situation to everyone.

Li Ye said slowly: "I believe everyone is confused. The household tax has been implemented for thousands of years. Why should it be reformed or even abolished? In a nutshell, it's because of population.

In the first year of Tianbao, the population of the Tang Dynasty was about 8 million households and nearly 50 million people. After the Anshi Rebellion, the population dropped sharply to just over 40 million. If you go to Hebei, you can deeply appreciate the tragic situation of the sharp decline in population. It is probably only one-tenth of that during the Tianbao period. Youzhou is almost the same. Henan and Hedong have also lost half of their population. The total population of Chang'an originally exceeded two million, but now it is less than 1.3 million.

We urgently need to restore our population, but household tax actually hinders population growth. The more children people have, the more taxes they have to pay, and the burden is very heavy. As a result, people are unwilling to have more children.

If the household tax is not changed, I am afraid that even a hundred years later, the population of the Tang Dynasty will not be able to recover to the number in the first year of Tianbao."

At this time, several officials hung up a huge map of the future territory of the Tang Dynasty. Li Ye pointed to the northeast direction on the map with a wooden pole and said, "Everyone, next year I plan to implement the Liaodong strategy. The court will take over the entire Liaodong. Everyone knows how big the land is over there. From the Liaoxi Corridor to the north, all the way to the northernmost ice and snow zone, it is almost half the area of ​​the Tang Dynasty. There are vast and rich black soils and thousands of miles of forests. The wheat grown over there alone, even if it is only harvested once a year, can feed the entire population of the Tang Dynasty. Such a vast land requires at least 30 million people to be relocated. Can we afford it?"

Li Ye pointed the pole to the northwest again, "And Anxi, I established the most remote Xianhai County in the Tang Dynasty in Xianhai. I need 30 million people to migrate to the Western Regions. Can we afford it?
There are also countless islands and uninhabited continents that cannot be shown on the map, but each continent is larger than the Tang Dynasty and also requires population.

Ladies and gentlemen, population is the most scarce resource of the Tang Dynasty. We need to recuperate, develop agriculture, reduce the burden on the people, and ensure that every citizen has enough food to eat. Then they will work hard to give birth to children for us. Twenty years later, can the population of the Tang Dynasty reach 80 million?
This is my grand plan, and the first step to realize this grand plan is to reform the household tax and eventually abolish it. "

There was absolute silence in the rotunda, as everyone was stunned by the regent's grand vision. Suddenly, warm applause broke out in the rotunda and lasted for a long time. The ambitions in everyone's bones were awakened at this moment.

The Tang Dynasty's tax reform plan was successfully passed. On January 1 next year, after Li Ye, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, signs it, it will be promulgated and implemented to the world.

..........
At noon, Wude Restaurant was doing a booming business. In an elegant room by the window, Wei Jiansu and Pei Zunqing were sitting together having a drink.

Pei Zunqing filled a glass of wine for Wei Jiansu and said, "I always thought that Liaodong was to deal with the Khitan and re-establish the Andong Protectorate, but I didn't expect it to expand thousands of miles northward. I'm not familiar with the geography over there. Is the ice and snow zone you mentioned referring to the North Sea?"

"It shouldn't be the North Sea. The North Sea is actually just a very deep freshwater lake located to the north of Huihe. The ice and snow zone your highness mentioned is in the northeast, thousands of miles away from the North Sea. It is said that it is covered with ice and snow all year round, and the local natives use deer to pull sleds. I have seen a map in your highness's staff room. He marked that place as the North Pole. That is the real ocean, as far as the eye can see."

"Ah! It's so far away, what's the point of coming?"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said, "All under heaven belongs to the king! Even though it is useless now, it may be useful to our descendants in the future."

"That's true!" Pei Zunqing lowered his voice and said, "I heard that the Dugu family, the Changsun family, the Dou family, and the Yuan family went to Southeast Asia together. Where are they really going to establish a country?"

Wei Jiansu smiled faintly and said, "Isn't it good for them to establish a country overseas? Do we have to wait until they become powerful again? Once they leave, how many self-cultivating farmers will appear in the Tang Dynasty? This is a very clever move by Your Highness. Its future historical status will be comparable to the Enfeoffment Order. I admire it very much, so I firmly support the plan of establishing a country overseas."

Pei Zunqing nodded. "The Guanlong nobles controlled the Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang dynasties for almost two hundred years. Once they left, the Tang Dynasty entered a new era."

It was almost dark when Li Ye returned home. They were packing up as they were going to move into the Daming Palace next month. Although Li Ye did not want to move, the east city wall would be renovated next month and he would not be able to walk along the wall corridors as it was not safe to walk outside. Both the court and the inner guards insisted that he move into the Daming Palace. More importantly, his family also wanted to move, so Li Ye had no choice but to take care of everyone.

As the weather turned cooler, they no longer lived in Wangtian Pavilion and moved back to Chenxiang Pavilion.

Li Ye returned to his study, only to see his wife Dugu Xinyue tidying up his bookshelf. He became very stubborn and said in a pinched voice, "Greetings, Queen!"

"Didn't I tell you? Don't shout! Hey——"

Dugu Xinyue suddenly reacted. She turned around and saw her husband looking at her with a smirk. Her pretty face blushed and she walked forward and twisted her husband's arm.

"You look so stupid, you're teasing me on purpose!"

Li Ye hugged her tightly and said with a smile: "Are you unhappy to be called the Queen?"

"Of course I'm happy! But doesn't it start next year?"

"Next year is the official date for my ascension to the throne, but it's already here. The world cannot be without a ruler for a day. Those guys in the court have changed their words. They used to call me a humble official, but now they call me a humble official."

Dugu Xinyue poked him on the forehead and said, "You wish. The young emperor hasn't abdicated yet! How can you be the Son of Heaven? Besides, you don't look like an emperor. How can you hug your wife in the study?"

"That's not right! Hugging your wife and the emperor are two different things. Only the emperor would hug you every day!"

Dugu Xinyue sneered, "The emperor hugs other women every day, such as Concubine Shen and Empress Zhang."

Li Ye was a little embarrassed. That stupid woman, Empress Dowager Zhang, came to visit his wife two days ago. He didn't know what stupid things he said, but made his wife guess that he and Empress Dowager Zhang were ambiguous.

Seeing her husband embarrassed, Dugu Xinyue was afraid that he would get angry out of shame, so she took the initiative to kiss him and gently advised: "Although Empress Dowager Zhang is somewhat pretty, she is the empress dowager after all. If your husband is interested in her, it is best to wait until next year. If the officials know about it, it will affect your reputation. Listen to my advice!"

Li Ye nodded, hugged his wife and kissed her back. At this time, there was a sound of running on the stairs. The eldest daughter Xingsha ran down from upstairs holding a book, "Mom, Daddy actually has "Soushen Ji" here, I like it!"

When she looked up, she found that her father was hugging her mother and kissing her mouth. She stuck out her tongue and ran back quickly, "I didn't see anything!"

Dugu Xinyue quickly broke away from her husband and complained to him, "The child has grown up, be careful next time!"

"I didn't know she was upstairs!"

Li Ye then remembered that his daughter was already nine years old. Time flies!

He suddenly realized, "Oh no!" He quickly ran upstairs, "Xingsha, don't open that bookcase!"

His daughter discovered the box of erotic novels he had hidden.

(End of this chapter)