Wentang

Chapter 279 Zhenguan Yearly Income Inventory

This is the third time that Li Shimin has snatched something from him, and this time is different from the previous two times.

The Arabian horse that was robbed for the first time was to be used as a stallion to breed excellent war horses.It is related to the construction of the army, even if those horses belong to others, they will be forcibly bought by the court.

The second time is Liuli, needless to say, there is only one dead end for personal possession.Unless he publishes the recipe of Liuli and directly lowers its price to the price of cabbage.

Both of these are strategic materials for Datang and can only be handed over to the state.And it's not for nothing, the political assets in exchange are very rich, enough for him to eat for a lifetime.

The third time and this time I snatched something from him for the simple reason of being poor.

The imperial court is already eating enough food for free, and mice can starve to death in the treasury.It's okay if nothing happens, but if something goes wrong, they will all be caught blind.

Li Shimin was forced to use his brains on this part of him because he was in a hurry, and he was embarrassed to use his eldest grandson Wugou to speak.

Many people may think that 20 guan is a drop in the bucket for the court.In fact, this is not the case. In the first few decades of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the annual tax revenue of the treasury was only 400 million.

Are you surprised that the annual income of the prosperous Tang Dynasty is so small?
The reason is that there are too few tax points.

First of all, Salt Iron is not a monopoly.Many people may not know that the salt and iron business in the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty was an ordinary business, and anyone could do it without the need for salt quotations or the permission of the court.

Not to mention ordinary people, many novelists don't know this, and when writing this period of history, there are always plots such as salt quotations and illegal salt sales.

The protagonist in the famous martial arts novel The Legend of Double Dragon of the Tang Dynasty seems to have done something like selling illegal salt.It is undeniable that this book is very exciting, but every time Yue Shan reads this episode, he feels ashamed.

Closer to home, the salt and iron business is a business that generates money. It is not an exaggeration to say that half of the national income comes from the salt and iron monopoly.Abandoning this business means that the country's tax revenue will be reduced by a large amount.

The second is that there is no tea tax. Needless to say, tea profits are huge. All dynasties have imposed high tax rates on tea business.But Chu Tang still did not do so.

Again, there is no business tax.You read that right, during the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty, there was no need to pay taxes for doing business, which is unimaginable.

Finally, there is no need to pay household tax.In ancient times, in addition to paying head tax, every household also had to pay household tax.

Take the period of Tang Xuanzong as an example, each household had to pay 250 Wen per year.How many household taxes can be collected on millions of households?
Therefore, the tax revenue in the early Tang Dynasty was very low. During the period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, the salt and iron monopoly began, and the commercial tax and household tax were collected. The tax revenue in Tianbao only exceeded 1000 million.

The peak period of the entire Tang Dynasty's income should be after Tang Dezong implemented the two-tax law.

During the Tang Dezong period, the feudal towns were powerful and in a state of separatism, and the tax revenue there was not collected by the imperial court.Even so, the annual income is as high as 900 million guan. If the whole country is unified, it is estimated to reach 3000 million guan.

Of course, this is all for later. Li Shimin's treasury revenue is only 400 million yuan.And this is the number after conversion.

Why fold it?Because only about one-third of the annual income is cash, most of it is food, and a part is silk and cloth.

The early Tang Dynasty was not yet a complete monetary economy, and was in a stage where currency and physical transactions were mixed.Don't be surprised if you see a person on the street go to eat and give a bowl of beans when you pay.

As for why not use money to trade... This is another complicated topic, and I will talk about it later.

Of course, while the annual income is small, the expenses are also small, otherwise the court would have gone bankrupt.

As mentioned above, except for Beijing officials, local officials do not pay salaries.Divide a job field, and what is planted is the salary of officials.

Soldiers also have no salary, and they bring their own rations and weapons and equipment.The military system of the government gives the soldiers a division of duty, and what is planted is wages and rations.

The imperial court spends most of its money on infrastructure, disaster relief, material reserves, and so on.

Under such circumstances, Yueshan's 20 guan is a huge sum of money for the court, which can effectively relieve the pressure on the national treasury.Otherwise, Li Shimin wouldn't have the cheek to snatch that part of the group.

Will Yueshan be angry at being robbed of so much money?Just kidding, he wished Li Shimin could snatch more.There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world, if Li Shimin stole it from him today, he will pay back twice as much in the future.

Not to mention anything else, when this news spreads, what will those central ministers think?
What kind of trust is this, they have no chance to be robbed.

Compared with the political assets obtained by robbing, this little money is nothing.

Besides, he still has half of the members left, and he can get [-] guan.One hundred thousand guan, you can't spend it all with random flowers.Plus he has other sources of money, so he doesn't have to worry about running out of money.

So Li Shimin gave it to him if he wanted it.

Li Shimin and his cat murmured together and didn't know what they were discussing, but from the laughter they didn't hear, they knew that it should be a happy thing.

As for Yue Shan, he is naturally cultivating a relationship with his future wife.If you don't change your mind, the cute little girl is still fun.

At the second quarter of Shen Shi, which was around four o'clock in the afternoon, news finally came from the Liuli Pavilion.

"Saint and empress, great joy, twenty pieces of glazed vessels were sold for a total of 24 guan." A strong man came to report.

"How much?" Li Shimin stood up from his chair and asked in disbelief.

The expressions of Changsun Wugou and Yue Shan were not much better either.

"24, this is the list that Jin Rushan handed over." Lishi repeated the number, and then presented a letter with both hands.

Li Shimin walked over a few steps and grabbed the letter, took out a few pages from the envelope and flipped through them.The more I watched, the more excited I became, and finally I couldn't help but said: "Okay, okay, okay, Jin Rushan did a good job. I want to reward him heavily."

The eldest grandson Wugou took the list and read it again, also showing a surprised expression: "It is a big reward." After finishing speaking, he saw Yue Shan and Li Lizhi who were playing from the corner of his eye, and added: "Cuilan's contribution is the greatest. , I will write it down first, and reward it together later.”

"..." Can we reward it now, Yue Shan complained in his heart.Then he rolled his eyes, smiled and asked Li Li: "Little lady, go and bring me the list and let me have a look."

Without saying a word, Li Lizhi ran to Changsun Wugou's side.Li Shimin and his wife were stunned, and they dared to instruct me, the eldest princess of the Tang Dynasty, to work...

Then the two of them looked at the few pages that recorded the list of colored glaze auctions... Well, let's just give instructions.Anyway, sooner or later they are husband and wife, so there is no need to worry about so much between husband and wife.

Complacently taking the list from Li Lizhi, Yue Shan put away his joking thoughts and read it seriously.

(End of this chapter)