Dynasty Conquest

Chapter 504 Collection of Commercial Taxes

"Hahaha, Mr. Lin, if you don't understand, just say it straight. You have to make a nondescript tax increase and tax reduction. Aren't you making a joke?"

Lin Chuan's words fell silent, and the civil servants headed by the chief minister of the cabinet Zhou Rulin burst out laughing, and the Minister of State Wu Jingtang even taunted loudly without any scruples.

Lin Chuan’s Office of Supervision is known for its iron-blooded strictness. From its establishment to the present, it has pulled down many corrupt officials and beheaded them. Many of them are former students of the important ministers present. , but secretly hated Lin Chuan to death.

Facing the unscrupulous sarcasm of the civil servants, Lin Chuan smiled slightly and ignored them.

Lin Nuoyan also kept signaling to Lin Chuan through his eyes, telling him not to pretend to understand if he didn't understand, so as not to make a fool of himself.

But since Lin Chuan said what he said, he naturally has his own considerations and ideas. Lin Chuan is not the reckless man that those arrogant civil servants think he is.

"Your Majesty, the simultaneous tax increase and tax reduction is not just a whim, but a deliberate one. Let me explain it in detail."

After Lin Chuan finished speaking, he did not forget to glance at Wu Jingtang, the minister of state affairs who was about to see a joke, full of provocation.

After being glanced at by Lin Chuan like this, Wu Jingtang, who looked smug, suddenly felt his eyelids twitch, and inexplicably felt a wave of uneasiness in his heart.

"My lords, the tax reduction I am talking about is naturally to reduce the tax of the people. Years of wars and wars have caused the people to live in dire straits. What they need now is to recuperate. If the tax continues to increase, the people will not be able to survive. The root cause of the rebellion will not be eradicated, and the uprising will become more and more fierce. Even if the dynasty has millions of troops, if all the people in the world rebel, then the dynasty will be in danger, so we must cut taxes for the people, at least half .”

Lin Chuan's words touched the heart of Yang Yanxu, the chief of military affairs. They were responsible for carrying out the suppression of the rebellion, and they realized the reason the most. They greatly agreed with Lin Chuan's words.

Long Han was also thoughtful, he was not a stupid person, what Lin Chuan said was not alarmist, he also calmed down, and reconsidered the issue of taxation.

"Your Excellency said that taxes would be cut in half, so the official would ask you, how will the military pay come from? Where will the money for various expenses come from?" the Minister of Finance asked.

"Since we talked about this issue, it is related to the tax increase I mentioned." Lin Chuan smiled slightly.

"Lin Aiqing, keep talking." Long Han leaned forward slightly, he wanted to get a good way to supplement the national treasury.

"According to the investigation of our Supervisory Office, our dynasty is now very polarized and the people are in dire straits, but the aristocrats and wealthy families live extravagantly and control a lot of money. Therefore, I propose to increase commercial taxes. Anyone who does business in the dynasty. Taxes are collected, and taxes are collected according to the scale of business operations.”

The business of the Far East Dynasty was prosperous, and there were countless merchants. The rich and nobles controlled the local economic lifeline. What a good source of income, but the ruler never collected taxes, but kept collecting taxes from the people. This is Lin Chuan incomprehensible.

"Your Majesty, it's absolutely impossible. If the business is taxed, all merchants will flee from our dynasty. At that time, the streets will be empty, and no one will sell cloth, oil and salt... The country will not be a country, this Lin Chuan has ulterior motives. Severe punishment!" Minister of State Wu Jingtang jumped out first not only to refute Lin Chuan's ideas, but also to intensify his efforts to frame Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan interrupted and said sarcastically, "Master Wu is probably worried about the damage to his property."

"I don't have any property. I'm just advocating justice for the merchants. The massacre of the nobles by your Supervisory Office is already outraged by both humans and gods. Now you want to attack merchants. As the Minister of State Affairs, I absolutely do not agree!" Wu Jingtang said righteously, The performance was unshakable and won the applause of the whole house.

Lin Chuan sneered in his heart, he really didn't want to die until the Yellow River, if that's the case, he can't blame himself.

"Master Wu, as far as I know, you own 1000 stores in Wangjing, monopolize the salt and iron business, and have more than 200 industries in various provinces, and run escort bureaus, shops, manufacturing bureaus... Daily income But more than [-] million gold coins."

"You...you...you spit blood—" Wu Jingtang didn't expect Lin Chuan to investigate his details so clearly, and his face was extremely flustered.

Lin Chuan was aggressive: "Master Wu has the final say on whether it's me or not. I, Lin Chuan, always pay attention to evidence. If Master Wu wants evidence, can I send someone back to get it?"

"This... this..." Lin Chuan sneered when he saw the tongue-tied and at a loss Minister of State Wu Jingtang, fighting with me without looking at what I was doing.

Long Han's face was even paler at this moment, he didn't expect that the national treasury was empty, as the Minister of State Affairs, not only did he not share the emperor's worries, but instead, he did everything possible to prevent the increase of commercial taxes in order not to be taxed himself.

"Come on, Mr. Wu is tired, take him down to rest." Long Han waved to the servant, feeling a burst of exhaustion.

Wu Jingtang immediately slumped on his seat and was carried away by the servant. Although he kept yelling and begging for mercy, Long Han was already cold-hearted and didn't want to use him anymore, leaving an empty seat in the conference hall.

Facing the empty position, the important ministers were silent, and no one stood up to speak for Wu Jingtang, as if this position was originally vacant.

They knew that Wu Jingtang was finished, and the minister of state affairs was finished. It would be better if he admitted it, but the nature of being exposed by Lin Chuan would be different. He was deceiving the emperor and disregarding the interests of the country for personal gain. Absolutely will not be tolerated.

Facing Lin Chuan, who was sitting there with no expression on his face, everyone was afraid. They didn't expect Lin Chuan to pull down such an important minister in a few words.

"I think it's feasible to reduce the agricultural tax and increase the commercial tax. Zhou Aiqing, your cabinet will go down and come up with a plan to report." Long Han made a final decision, and the matter was finalized.

"Your Majesty is holy—" With Wu Jingtang in his prime, the civil servants who clamored to oppose him suddenly became obedient, no longer opposed, and turned to support one after another.

In fact, Lin Chuan also took great pains. If the Far Eastern Dynasty is really going to be strong, then it must liberate the productive forces. You must reduce the taxation of the common people. The increase in commercial tax is actually more than the agricultural tax. By regulating taxation, it will stimulate commercial development. Of course, all of this The important ministers still can't think of it so far.

The source of funds for the treasury has been perfectly resolved, completely overturning the increase in agricultural taxes proposed by the cabinet. Instead, they shot themselves in the foot and increased commercial taxes. They once again experienced the horror of Lin Chuan.

(End of this chapter)