The king behind the empress

Chapter 36 Fewer and Less Taxes

Hearing Tao Qiong ask himself, Mo Zizai remembered his business here, "You should still have the equipment of Yu Zhisi here, right?"

"Miyaji?"

Yu Zhisi has not appeared in the eyes of the world for three years, so Tao Qiong has almost forgotten the department of Yu Zhisi. When Mo Zizai mentioned these three words, he froze for a moment before realizing, "Yes, Yu Zhisi The equipment is there, my lord."

"Three years ago, Chief Zhou asked his subordinates to build a thousand sets of armor for Yu Zhisi, but they never came to pick them up, and they are still in the warehouse of the Weapons Bureau."

Yuzhisi is a special department, weapons and armor are specially made, and these customized weapons and armor are also a symbol of Yuzhiji's identity, except for Yuzhisi, no one dares to use Yuzhiji's equipment, so these equipment to be kept here forever.

"Take out the thousand sets of equipment, and I will take them away directly."

Of course, Mo Zizai was clear about the equipment that Zhou Qi ordered, otherwise he would not have prepared a car and come to the Weapons Bureau directly.

"Okay, my lord, wait a moment."

Tao Qiong took the empress's warrant to check it, and after confirming that it was correct, he asked his officials to bring the carriage brought by Mo Zizai into the warehouse of the Military Weapons Bureau, and equip the thousand sets of armor.

Before leaving, Mo Zizai said to Tao Qiong: "After the party, the king will send someone to send 5 taels of silver. You go and pay the money owed to the craftsmen first, and use the remaining money to buy raw materials. "

"Now that the war is tight, the equipment building of the Military Weapons Bureau cannot be stopped."

"My lord, will you pay?"

Tao Qiong looked at Mo Zizai in surprise, "My lord, this is not in line with etiquette."

According to what Mo Zizai said in his previous life, the Weapons Bureau is a state unit, even if Mo Zizai is a prince, he is still a private person, and there is no such thing as a state unit accepting private money.

"Stop talking nonsense, there's nothing wrong with it."

Mo Zizai said impatiently: "This money should be taken from His Majesty's internal treasury. When the household department becomes rich later, the household department will naturally make up for it."

In Mo Zizai's heart, he has always regarded Dazhou as his own family, and the internal treasury and treasury are all his money, and they are not divided among each other.

Seeing what Mo Zizai said, Tao Qiong was a little speechless, so he put his hands together and gave Mo Zizai a deep salute gratefully, "Your Majesty, thank you, my lord."

For Tao Qiong's gratitude, Mo Zizai didn't take it seriously, and went back to the palace directly with the carriage.

But after Mo Zizai left, Tao Qiong thought about the 5 taels of silver that Mo Zizai had promised, and felt a little bitter in his heart. Although this prince was not as bad as the rumors said, it was obvious that he was not very good at the Military Weapons Bureau. How to understand.

There are now 3000 or 5 craftsmen in the Military Weapons Bureau. Although there are more or less monthly tributes, if the average is calculated, it can almost cover [-] or [-] monthly tributes for each person.

And for 3000 taels of people, the monthly payment for two months is 3 taels of silver. If all of them are issued, the 5 taels will only be left with [-] taels in an instant.

The 8000 taels may seem like a lot, but for the tens of thousands of equipment that the Weapons Bureau makes every now and then, it is simply a drop in the bucket.

"Oh, forget it, let's send out Yuefeng for a month first, and use the rest to buy raw materials."

Tao Qiong sighed softly, then turned and went back to the Weapons Bureau, "I hope that next month those sons of bitches in the household department can give me some money, otherwise I will be scolded to death."

……

On the way back, Mo Zizai also sighed, "I didn't expect that even the Yuefeng of the Military Weapons Bureau could be owed, so the situation of other departments can be imagined."

Jia Fu, who was sitting opposite Mo Zizai, nodded agreeingly, and said: "Back to the lord, the servants don't know much about these things, but the few yamen that the servants know seem to be in arrears with Yuefeng."

"All..."

Mo Zizai shook his head helplessly, and then asked Jia Fu, "Jia Fu, do you think the treasury has no money, does it have something to do with those people in the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

"Go back to the prince, the slaves think it has something to do with them."

Jia Fu didn't mean to evade this question at all. He was Mo Zizai's domestic slave. Since Mo Zizai asked, he would report the truth. As for other people, what did they have to do with him.

"Although it is too much to attribute the responsibility for the emptiness of the national treasury to a certain department, the slave still wants to say that the Ministry of Finance and Household Affairs should at least pay one-third of the responsibility for the emptiness of the national treasury, or even more."

"Oh? You know quite a lot."

Hearing Jia Fu's methodical answer, Mo Zizai immediately became interested, "Tell me what you know."

"Returning to the prince, because you have not been in the court for the past three years, you don't know many things, but the slaves have always been paying attention."

During the three years when Mo Zizai was under confinement, apart from buying land for the palace, Jia Fu had been actively inquiring about news from the court, in order to prevent Mo Zizai from knowing nothing when he came back.

As for this, the man in the palace not only did not stop him, but opened the door of convenience, making it extremely easy for him to obtain the court's information.

Originally, Jia Fu was still wondering why that person would do this, but after Mo Zizai came back to stay in the palace, he realized that it was all for the sake of his master.

"According to the information I have learned, before His Majesty ascended the throne, although my Great Zhou had already caught up with the disaster, but because the disaster was not serious, and my Great Zhou was stronger, the annual tax collected at that time was about About 5000 million taels."

"Among the 5000 million taels, almost 1000 million taels are taxes collected from the Jiangnan area."

"After His Majesty ascended the throne, due to the worsening of the disaster in the Central Plains, His Majesty decreed to exempt taxes from the hardest-hit areas."

"However, in order for the country's finances to be normal, His Majesty has increased some taxes in the Jiangnan region. After all, the weather there has been good and the harvest has been excellent in the past few years, and the Jiangnan region can accept some tax increases."

"Increase Jiangnan's taxes?"

Hearing this, Mo Zizai interrupted aloud, "The Minister of the Household Department is from the Jiangnan lineage. Will he agree to increase taxes in Jiangnan?"

"Your Highness is indeed wise. Those in the Ministry of Household Affairs do not agree to increase taxes in the Jiangnan area."

Jia Fu flattered him, and then said: "But His Majesty's attitude was extremely tough at that time, and he even did not hesitate to dismiss the Minister of the Household Department, so those people can only agree."

"When this girl is an outsider, she is still as domineering as ever."

However, Mo Zizai couldn't help laughing when thinking of the scene where Tang Weiyi, who was only 1.5 meters tall, was domineering, the image of a domineering loli was too weird.

Mo Zizai held back the smile on the corner of his mouth, and continued to ask: "What happened later? Since that girl suppressed the people in the household department, why are the taxes still getting less and less?"

"The tax has been added, but the tax money has not been collected."

Jia Fu didn't care about what Mo Zizai called Tang Weiyi, anyway, that's what Mo Zizai called Tang Weiyi six years ago, and Jia Fu didn't think there was anything wrong with calling her that way now.

"Originally, the Jiangnan area should have paid more than 2000 million taels of taxes in the first year, but in the end only 1800 million taels were collected, and they used various excuses to default on the remaining 800 million taels."

"In the second year, the Jiangnan area paid only 1100 million taels of tax silver, and owed 1300 million taels of tax silver."

"And last year, they only paid 500 million taels, directly owed 1900 million taels!"

"In three years, in just three years, the Jiangnan area owed a full 4000 million taels of tax money."

(End of this chapter)