Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 16: Implementing the New Deal (Special thanks to book friends 2018...6012 for their first monthly pass!)

In the remaining days of December, Chai Zongxun went to court with his mother, Queen Mother Fu, to manage the government in the morning, mainly discussing with Prime Minister Fan Zhi and other ministers to improve the specific implementation strategies of the New Deal.

When Empress Dowager Fu came to court to listen to the government, she spoke less and less. Chai Zongxun's talents made her very reassured. She only accompanied Chai Zongxun to court every day in order to calm the ministers.

After several days of discussion, under the leadership of Chai Zongxun, the Ministry of Household Affairs planned to build two "night markets" in each capital of 118 states in the country in the first phase.

The operating hours of the "Night Market" are from garrison hour to midnight, a total of 3 hours. The area is determined based on the population and business level of each state capital.

People are encouraged to operate various commercial businesses, and the tax rate is fixed at 2%. As for brothels and gambling dens, in addition to strictly limiting the number of places, a high tax rate of double is imposed.

When King Sejong promoted economic and fiscal revitalization, he had already set the policy of "collecting more taxes from rich households and less or exempting poor households from taxes." Chai Zongxun carried forward this policy by establishing a new "night market" this time.

Anyway, people who often hang out in brothels and gambling houses are either rich or noble. Even if the tax rate is doubled, it will not reduce the consumption of these powerful people.

As for the officials sent by the imperial court to supervise the collection of "night market" taxes, they were divided into two systems: the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ouchi Eunuch.

The Ministry of Revenue selected and dispatched a total of 5 officials to various state governments to implement the "New Night Market Policy."

The first phase of building night markets in various states is planned to use two million taels of silver.

After discussing with his mother, Chai Zongxun selected and dispatched 236 palace eunuchs with honest character and duty, two from each state, to serve as "night market tax supervisors" in various places based on the suggestions of Li Fu, the chief eunuch of the palace, and Tang Qi, the chief eunuch in front of the palace. ".

Most of the more than 100 eunuchs who contributed to the execution of Zhao Kuangyin in the Xingwu Palace were sent to this position.

As the eyes and ears of Emperor Chai Zongxun, tax supervisors supervised the tax collection behavior of officials in various places.

As for land taxation, which was the most important thing in the country at this time, after decades of war since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the population has been greatly reduced and a lot of land has been abandoned.

Chai Zongxun inherited Shizong's father's business. At this time, the total population of the Zhou Dynasty was 255 million households, about million people.

Guoshi covers an area of ​​approximately 105 million square kilometers.

Under the policy of the imperial court that encouraged people to cultivate wasteland as their own land, almost all people were homesteaders. The estates of powerful landowners account for a very small proportion of the country's land.

In the first phase, the Ministry of Industry planned to go to thirty state capitals near Bianjing to recruit a team of officials to promote water conservancy.

Chai Zongxun changed the corvee system to the employment system and set the monthly salary at 600 Wenqian. With the extremely low prices now in the midst of war and a lot of waste, it can support a family of 6 people.

The Ministry of Industry selected and dispatched thirty teams with a total of three hundred officials, and the water conservancy construction project planned to use three million taels of silver.

The land rent collected by the government was to collect grain. According to Chai Zongxun's decree, it was reduced from 40% of the field harvest to 30%.

In the discussions in the court these days, many ministers also expressed concerns.

Prime Minister Fan Zhi and Ministry of Industry Minister Tian Min believed that building water conservancy projects was good governance to increase land rental income and was worthy of the court's large investment in silver.

However, the 40% field rent set by the late emperor does not need to be lowered. Only with sufficient food can the Zhou Dynasty cope with the frequent wars in various places.

Chai Zongxun explained:

“After decades of war, our country now has a sparse population and numerous wastelands.

Due to the fatigue of the people after the war, it was not possible to reclaim the wasteland.

The imperial government's policy of developing water conservancy and reducing land rents will greatly stimulate the people's enthusiasm for reclaiming wasteland. Although the land rent has been reduced from 40% to 30%, it will not take a year for the court to collect the land for land rent. More than doubled!
The people live with enough food and clothing, have some savings in their hands, and have endless energy to promote the development of commerce across the country.

There is another big benefit from my reduction in land rent. With the huge profits from reclaiming wasteland, people will rush to have children so that they can have more labor to reclaim wasteland, causing the population of our great Zhou Dynasty to grow rapidly.

This is the foundation for me to unify the world in the future! "

When all the ministers heard this, they were all amazed. After the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry determined the candidates for officials to promote the New Deal, there were no officials in the capital.

The problem of insufficient officials in the imperial court was obvious, so after discussing with the ministers, Chai Zongxun decided to hold the first imperial examination for the new emperor in May next year.

Chai Zongxun said:

"Dear dear friends, unfortunately my father passed away suddenly. When I saw this, I thought of my father and was very sad.

I intend to use the new year's name starting from the end of the New Year. What do you think? "

It has always been a common practice for a new emperor to adopt a new year title when he ascends to the throne. Now that Emperor Chai Zongxun spoke, the ministers had no objections and immediately discussed Chai Zongxun's reign name in the court.

The reign names proposed by the ministers include Chongde, Tianyuan, Longwu, Shengxing, Xianjia, Kaixi, Wanli, etc. After discussion with his mother, Chai Zongxun selected Kaixi as his own reign name, and it will be used from the first day of the new year. .

Chai Zongxun went to the Xingwu Hall every afternoon, where he and his cousin Fu Zhenzhen were taught martial arts by Han Hui.

All the ministers and people in the capital knew that Han Tong's family was now being inspected in front of the Emperor's Chongxin Palace, so they became more and more respectful to the "one-armed general" who had made great contributions to the execution of Zhao Kuangyin. There were rumors among the people that at least ten Xingwu Palace executions were carried out. Zhao Kuangyin's version.

Compared with his father, Han Hui had a delicate mind and a gentle personality. He taught students in accordance with their aptitude, formulated a daily martial arts training plan tailored for Emperor Chai Zongxun, and carefully guided Chai Zongxun.

Zhang Yong and the other six surviving young men were all granted the title of Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Forbidden Army, but these were empty titles. Their top priority was to train martial arts with Chai Zong every day.

In the first few days, Chai Zongxun was indeed no match for his cousin Fu Zhenzhen. During martial arts training, he was often knocked down by her with just a few moves.

However, Chai Zongxun was not the Han Jing Emperor who would kill his cousin if he lost chess. His generous character made his cousin Fu Zhenzhen, Han Hui, and Zhang Yong all become closer to him.

The relationship between Chai Zongxun and his cousin Fu Zhenzhen also became stronger.

On December 22nd of the sixth year of Xiande's reign, Chai Zongxun found that his cousin was unhappy when he was practicing martial arts. She was defeated by him several times while distracted, so he couldn't help but ask her why.

Fu Zhenzhen's eyes turned red and she said:

"Cousin of the Emperor, my grandfather sent a messenger yesterday to tell my uncle to take Nunu back to his home in Daming Mansion to celebrate the New Year tomorrow.

The Queen Mother's aunt has ordered her attendants to start preparing for the return journey today. "

Chai Zongxun was a little surprised that his mother had not told him about this. Then he thought about it, and he thought that his mother was probably afraid that he would not be able to let his cousin go, just as his cousin was now reluctant to let him go, so he planned to tell him before leaving.

The second uncle and his cousin have been staying in the capital for twenty days, and New Year's Eve is the most important festival of the Chinese nation. Its origins can be traced back to the ancient customs of cleaning up the old, making new arrangements and worshiping ancestors at the end of the year. The most important thing is family reunion, and Chai Zongxun cannot force him to stay.

Chai Zongxun put his hands on his cousin's shoulders and said with a smile:
"My cousin, there is no need to be sad about being separated from me. You can come to the capital to play with me at any time in the future.

Even if grandpa asks you to go back for the New Year, I can't force you to stay.

The queen mother must have rewarded you with many treasures. I will reward you with some rare treasures. I will set off back to my home in Damingfu tomorrow. "

Fu Zhenzhen burst into tears, hugged Chai Zongxun, and cried:

"Cousin Emperor, but Nunu can't bear to be separated from you... Wuwuwu"

Chai Zongxun patted Fu Zhenzhen on the back and thought:
"Depending on the mother's wishes, the queen's position will almost certainly go to my cousin. I also like my cousin's character. It will also be a good thing for consolidating my kingdom."

Chai Zongxun said:

"With my mother in charge, we will live together for a long time in the future! Cousin, there is no need to cry."

After comforting Fu Zhenzhen for a while, she turned from sadness to happiness.

(End of this chapter)