A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 434 Increase revenue and reduce expenditure, check business tax

The best horses in the court's stables were never used as war horses, and even the first batch of horses never went to war.

These horses will be used as stallions to improve the war horse group.

War horses are consumables, and there will be many casualties in every battle. How can those high-quality war horses be consumed as consumables?

"After the number of war horses has been supplied to armies in various places, the stock is [-] more than last year." Tai Puling gave the general situation of the world's horse farms.

Wang Xin nodded, and then continued to ask: "How many prisoners were exiled to the Yan Kingdom in the Western Regions?"

"Your Majesty, there are 700 people exiled from the Yan Kingdom and 780 three people from the Western Regions."

In recent years, because of their support for Northern Xinjiang and Yan State, very few people have been exiled to the Western Regions.Of course, this is also because after discovering the richness of the Western Regions, people migrate to the Western Regions every year.

Every year, about 1 Gan people move to the Western Regions through various means.It’s just that the speed of this population migration is far less than the rate of population growth.

"The imperial court has moved 1000 people to northern Xinjiang this year, but most of the people who migrate every year escape back."

Wang Xin looked unhappy. He didn't want to give up on the Mobei grassland, so he was still maintaining Wang Jing's policy. But now it seemed that the people were not willing to go to the grassland.

Afterwards, many ministers discussed other matters and the budget needed for next year, and the court meeting came to an end.

Wang Xin asked the royal children who studied technology in the royal family to try to mint coins with the craftsmen and supervisors, and then ordered Sang Hongyang to increase the salt tax and strengthen the collection of commercial taxes.

At the same time, Wang Xin also asked the embroidered clothes envoys and secret guards to secretly investigate the business tax. If those nobles and officials pay taxes honestly, Wang Xin will let them go. If they dare to continue to evade taxes, then when the time comes, Just settle the old and new accounts together.

Every generation in the royal family has a group of people who study these things.Zijue is very aware of the importance of science and technology to the development of human society, so he attaches great importance to various technologies, and every generation will have disciples to study them.

At the same time, they communicate with the craftsman supervisor on a regular basis, so the royal family's various technologies are also very strong, and they also master many technologies that the craftsman supervisor does not know.

When it comes to money-making craftsmanship, there are still many in this era.Those powerful people, wealthy families, and officials are very interested in making money. For decades, they have tried every means to make low-cost coins.

Therefore, tin money, lead money, etc. appeared. It can be said that these people continue to study various technologies in order to make money. Unfortunately, they went in the wrong direction.

He is obsessed with fixing these crooked ways, but the casting technology is quite good.

After agreeing to mint money, Wang Xin did not give up other solutions.

There are only two ways to solve financial problems. One is open source, which is what was mentioned at the court meeting not long ago, whether it is casting money, increasing commercial taxes, etc.The second is to reduce expenditures, which is to reduce expenditures and eliminate some unnecessary expenditures.

What is the most unnecessary expense in the court?Although the courtiers did not say it, Wang Xin knew clearly that it was the Zhenbei Protectorate.

The Zhenbei Protectorate has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the north every year. It also conducts immigration every year, transports food and trades with the barbarians, and spends millions of dollars every year.

Wang Xin was naturally unwilling. This was a strategy formulated by his father. His father did not realize it. He wanted to continue to implement it, and he did not want any stain on his father.Therefore, even though the late emperor had admitted his strategic mistakes before his death and asked Wang Xin to correct them, Wang Xin did not adopt them.

Since the Zhenbei Protectorate is not abolished, it can only be reduced from other places.

Wang Xin then turned his attention to the salt and iron franchise.Over the years, with the prosperity of Daqian, the number of smelting workshops in the imperial court has continued to increase, and the scale of craftsmanship supervisors has also continued to expand.

The imperial court implemented the salt and iron monopoly system for decades. At first, it was to prevent the leakage of iron tools. Later, it was discovered that this method was easy to manage and could make a lot of money, so it continued to be implemented.

But now that this policy has been implemented, things have changed a lot, and ironware is no longer profitable.

Since the late emperor vigorously developed farming, the price of iron farm tools has been decreasing. The imperial court operates iron workshops. For reasons that everyone knows, the profits of iron tools are extremely low, and sometimes iron tools even lose money.

After seeing this situation, Wang Xin had already planned to remove ironware from the salt and iron franchise, and the imperial court would no longer specialize in ironware. Wang Xin was ready to open the ironware market to the private sector.Private iron-making shops do not have the bloated structure of the imperial court, and the profits are still good.

Of course, this does not mean that the imperial court will abandon iron smelting, but will change its direction to weapons and armor.

As for salt, Wang Xin has no intention of letting it go.Salt is related to people's livelihood. The imperial court now specializes in salt. The price is not too high and the people can afford it. The main reason is that the imperial court obtains salt very cheaply.

Whether it is green salt from the northwest or sea salt from Yancheng, the cost is very low, so the court made a lot of profits.

In addition to letting go of iron weapons, Wang Xin ordered the censors to begin a strict investigation into corruption.At the same time, the Shang government was also ordered to strictly inspect business taxes.

Since business taxes have become higher and higher, the status of the Shangfu Ling has become higher and higher. Now it has become one of the Nine Qings. The prosperity of the Silk Road has made Daqian business prosperous, but a large number of businessmen have also evaded taxes.

Originally, those nobles and officials made more money through trade, but Wang Jing turned a blind eye when he saw that they did not invade the land of ordinary people.But these people are pushing their limits and becoming more and more excessive. Although they evaded taxes in the past, they still paid some, but now they no longer pay.

Now that this matter has been directly brought to the forefront, it will be difficult to do what it was before.

Wang Xin summoned Shang Fu Ling and asked expressionlessly: "Shang Fu Ling, you are also aware of the situation in the court. Daliang merchants are evading taxes. Do you have anything to say?"

Shang Fu Ling's body trembled for a moment, and he said quickly: "Your Majesty, this is my fault. I will investigate immediately and will never tolerate it!"

Wang Xin said calmly: "Order of the Shang Mansion, go and investigate. If you are not satisfied with the investigation, then go to the Northern Protectorate."

The Shang government official's face suddenly turned extremely pale. A strict inspection of business taxes would offend nobles and officials from all over the country. But if he didn't investigate, his family would be the ones who died. How to choose?Shang Fu Ling made a decision instantly.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely satisfy you!"

"Go!"

Wang Xin waved his hand, and Shang Mansion carefully exited the inner hall. After reaching the door, he breathed a sigh of relief. A gust of cold wind blew, biting to the bone. Only then did he realize that his back was soaked with sweat.

(End of this chapter)