Tibet.

Chapter 1466: Courtesy first, then attack
"The other thing is this!"

Li Ye took a thick stack of documents from the imperial desk. "This is the secret investigation report of the Internal Guards. It shows the number of slaves owned by the powerful families in the counties and prefectures of Shannan East and West."

The three of them looked at each other. None of them had expected that the emperor would actually send the inner guards to conduct a secret investigation.

Li Ye smiled and said, "We can't hang ourselves on a tree. The Internal Guard has the function of investigation. Exercising their functions will help the court to obtain first-hand information."

Wei Jiansu took the information about Shannan East Road and took a look. The first one to be affected was the Du family in Xiangyang, which had more than 3,600 slaves.

Wei Jiansu looked at the list of Shannan West Road again and was even more shocked. "Your Majesty, are you sure? The Guo family in Hechuan actually has more than 20,000 slaves?"

Li Ye nodded, "They are basically refugees from Hebei and the Central Plains. Jiangnan is a refugee area, Jingxiang is also a refugee area, and there is also Bashu. The most slaves are from the Shen family in Jiangnan, with more than 30,000 slaves. I wrote to them, and the Shen family has already converted all the slaves into civilians. Other Jiangnan families have followed suit, but there are still some, and the number is huge, so I demand that the slave tax be introduced immediately, and the collection will start this year, and the declaration will start next month!"

Wei Jiansu handed the list of information to Zhang Li and Liu Yan and asked, "What is the use of this information obtained by the internal security investigation?"

"I am considering dividing it into three levels: A, B and C. Those with more than 1,000 slaves are Class A, those with 300 to 1,000 slaves are Class B, those with 300 to 300 slaves are Class C, and the rest are ordinary levels. Taxation will be the main method of regulation. As for Class A, B and C, it is not as simple as taxation.

Of course, I will do my utmost. First, each state will issue a rectification notice, and the rectification must be completed within ten days. If the county government records all abolition of slavery, then it will be considered qualified and passed. If there is no movement within ten days, the state government will send an inspection team to the door. If the inspection is still refused, or fraud is committed, the court officials will come to the door to collect taxes and impose ten times the fine. If there is a mistake, you can appeal, and after the appeal, we will send someone to investigate.

But if the court rejects the appeal, and the money and fines are not paid within a month, the internal security will come to enforce it. What do you think of this plan?"

Zhang Li pondered for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, don't you see the role of the county government in your plan?"

Li Ye said calmly: "We need to have the red face, the white face, and the black face. Let the county government come to buffer and appease!"

Li Ye took out another document and handed it to the three people. "This is the implementation method I personally drafted. If there is any need for improvement or supplementation, you can do it yourself. Implement it together with the slave tax, starting with the first-class wealthy families in Shannan East Road and West Road."

"Your Majesty, the situation in Bashu is probably more complicated!" Wei Jiansu sighed.

Li Ye smiled faintly, "I have my own arrangements for Bashu!"

After the three of them left, Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, then turned back and ordered, "Quickly summon Liu Wutong to see me!"

Soon, the Inner Guard Commander Liu Wuzhou hurried over and bowed, "Your Majesty, I am honored to see you!"

Li Ye said slowly, "The court will soon introduce a slave tax law and a classified inspection. It will first inspect the Class A households in Shannan that have more than 1,000 slaves. They will definitely be asked to inspect themselves first. I estimate that few of these wealthy families will honestly correct their mistakes. They will definitely find ways to transfer them. The Internal Guard will send people to monitor them, obtain evidence and locations of the transfer, and then cooperate with the state government's inspection, or monitor the state government's inspection. Do you understand what I mean?"

Liu Wutong understood everything immediately and said, "I understand. The inspection stage is not the time for the internal guards to take action."

Li Ye praised his understanding and nodded, "That's right, inspection is not the job of the Internal Guards. The Internal Guards can provide information and monitor the inspection of the state government. If the state government's inspection is ineffective, they can write a report, but they cannot interfere or intervene. Do you understand? Monitoring means watching from the sidelines. When the government refuses to pay taxes or fines, that's when the Internal Guards will take action!"

"I fully understand this. I will just stand by and watch without interfering or meddling. I will just record it!"

"Yes, go and arrange it! Start from the two roads in the south of the mountain."

Liu Wutong bowed and left.

Li Ye then issued two orders, sending an additional 30,000 troops to the Jiannan Military Governor's Office and replacing Li Sheng as the Jiannan Military Governor.

Second, he ordered Wei Boyu to train 50,000 new soldiers in Dengzhou.

The two armies were on guard against any unusual movements in Shannan East and West Routes.

The next morning, the imperial court officially introduced the "Slave Tax", which detailed the taxation of slave breeding and required slave owners to pay two strings of cash for each slave every year. If tax evasion was discovered, the owner would be fined more than ten times the amount.

The targets of taxation and severe penalties were clearly slave owners, and the tax burden also borne the slave owners, and had nothing to do with the slaves.

The "Slave Tax" had been formulated long ago and was waiting for the emperor's order to be implemented immediately.

At the same time, the Tang Dynasty Weekly, which was published on the same day, specially issued an extra edition, which was inserted into the newspaper. Ten thousand copies of the weekly were printed and distributed to all parts of the country through the Jinzouyuan. The implementation of the slave tax had almost no response in Chang'an and Guanzhong. The abolition order in Chang'an and Guanzhong was implemented most resolutely, and there were no slaves, but it caused a strong response throughout the country.

There were a total of twenty-seven wealthy families in the two provinces of Shannan that were listed as Class A slave-owning families, distributed in nineteen states.

According to the unified deployment of the imperial court, each state government issued a unified rectification notice to the Class A wealthy families in their respective jurisdictions on the list, requiring them to abolish slavery within ten days. If they failed to do so within ten days, the state government would conduct on-site inspections and verify taxes and fines.

There are two Class A wealthy families in Xiangyang, the Du family and the Huang family. Although the two families are hiding relatively secretly and unknown to the outside world, the internal security personnel who conducted the investigation still found out the bottom line of the Du family and the Huang family through various means.

The Du family owned 2,700 slaves, and the Huang family owned more than 1,300 slaves. Both families were included in the Class A list and received rectification notices.

That night, Du Youguang, the head of the Du family, came to visit the Huang family.

Huang Min invited him to sit in the VIP hall. Both of them belonged to the second generation of the family. Huang Min's father Huang Kai was still alive and could make decisions for him, but Du Youguang's father Du Yan had passed away. Suddenly something big happened, and he couldn't find any elders to discuss it, so he came to discuss it with his in-laws, the Huang family.

However, the marriage between the Du and Huang families was a matter of the previous generation. There was no marriage between their next generation. Huang Min's brother-in-law was Du Youguang's fourth brother, but Huang Min's two sons and one daughter had no relationship with the Du family.

The main reason was that Du Youguang was short-sighted and stingy, and he damaged the interests of the Huang family in many ways, causing Huang Min to gradually become dissatisfied with Du Youguang. The last time Huang Min's grandson had a full-month banquet, she did not invite Du Youguang, but invited another elder of the Du family.

"I heard that the Huang family is ready to compromise?" Du Youguang asked tentatively.

"Who told you that, Brother Du?"

Huang Min glanced at him with dissatisfaction and said calmly: "It's not that simple. If you give up, who will compensate the Huang family for their losses?"

"But if you don't give it up, you have to pay taxes!"

"Brother Du, you still have to pay the taxes. It's not much actually. If you don't pay a penny, the county government will be in trouble!"

This sentence has two meanings. One meaning is that you should pay your taxes honestly. After all, more than two thousand guan a year is not a lot, right?

The second meaning is to pay an appropriate amount, not to be stingy, and give an explanation to the county government.

It depends on who you are. A righteous person would definitely understand the first meaning.

But a miser like Du Youguang naturally understood the second meaning.

Du Youguang immediately understood what the other party meant. They concealed the number of slaves and paid taxes with a small portion. They paid less and concealed more. I guess all the wealthy families in the world would do this! Who would pay taxes honestly?
The two of them didn't agree on anything, so Du Youguang had to get up and say goodbye. Huang Min saw him off and said to him, "The rectification period is only ten days, brother, you have to hurry up."

"I know. I hope both our families can get through this safely."

Du Youguang's words were meaningful, and there was a hint of threat in his tone, which made people feel uncomfortable.

Huang Min looked coldly at Du Youguang's carriage as it drove away. His father was right. Let the Du family appease the emperor's dissatisfaction with the Jingxiang family!

This time, the emperor chose two places in Shannan as pilot areas, which more or less implies that he has not forgotten the old grudge.

In the next few days, the Huang family began to count the slaves in several large manors, restore their civilian status, and send them to the county government for filing. Before that, they only made preparations and did not take any action for fear of alerting the enemy.

Huang Min played a trick. He reported to the county government in two batches. The first batch only reported 300 people and the regularization list, and on the last day he reported the regularization list of the second batch of 1,000 people.

At the same time, the Du family was pretending to count their slaves and restore their civilian status. They reported more than 500 slaves to the county government, and all of them were converted to civilian status.

These farmers who regained their freedom stayed in the manor closest to Xiangyang, while the other 2,700 people who were hidden were arranged to more remote manors.

The Huang family was also doing the same thing, transferring a thousand slaves to the farthest manor.

(End of this chapter)