Chapter 420: Today's so-called good ministers were what ancient people called traitors to the people (7.2k in total, please subscribe))
Prime Minister's Mansion, Living Room
Chu Wujiang walked into the prime minister's residence and felt it was surprisingly simple.

This simplicity does not refer to poverty, but to the lack of characteristics unique to the prime minister's mansion. It looks ordinary and has not undergone much transformation.

Ever since Emperor Hao appointed Fang Yuan as prime minister and bestowed this prime minister's mansion on the Fang family, the Fang family has at most added content to the construction of the formation but has not changed the original architectural style.

The Duke's Mansion is magnificent and majestic, and its military spirit is shining.

The Imperial College is a place of scholarship and literary spirit.

Penglai Island is a paradise for immortals, filled with fairy air.

Wuliang Mountain, a holy place of Buddhism, is peaceful and tranquil.

These places each have their own affiliation, and their construction ideas have their own unique characteristics.

Only in the Prime Minister's Mansion, Chu Wujiang could not tell the truth at all.

It looks too much like an ordinary wealthy and powerful mansion, somewhat noble but lacking in personal characteristics.

If we change to the Chu family's mansion, it is also generally luxurious, with nothing special about it.

Prime Minister Fang Yuan has been in charge of government affairs for decades, bringing the Fang family into its heyday, competing with the Duke of Zhenguo who had accumulated wealth for hundreds of years, and he is just a genius.

This is even more exaggerated.

If the Duke of Zhenguo was born a saint, then Fang Yuan’s concern would only be great.

[Many people believe that the Prime Minister's father is honored by his son. ]

[It is too naive to think that Fang Xiaoran is too outstanding and that the Confucian school fully supports the Prime Minister.]

[Even before Fang Xiaoran was born, the Prime Minister had already been able to compete with him. ]

Therefore, Chu Wujiang did not underestimate the other party's thoughts at all, maintained enough respect and observed etiquette.

The Prime Minister said calmly:
"My Lord, please take a seat."

"Today, we will discuss official business first, and then personal matters."

Public is public, private is private.

The Prime Minister was suspected of indulging his son, but when it came to the way he handled official business, even the Duke of Zhenguo admitted that he put state affairs first.

Chu Wujiang nodded and said:
"Please tell me, Prime Minister."

Fang Xiang had a dignified look, and his square face gave people a strong sense of conviction. He said slowly:

"The promotion of Lingmi has caused a stir all over the world."

"The price of rice has risen from 5 wen to 20 wen in the past decade, and in some places it has reached 30 wen or even more."

"If we allow the Duke of Zhenguo to follow his ideas and continue to expand Lingmi, chaos will be imminent."

"I am not targeting the Duke of Zhenguo. This is just a matter of official business."

The rebellion of the common people seems to be easily suppressed, but large amounts of death, killing, and resistance will have an impact on the dragon veins.

Emperor Wu executed many heroes and implemented tyrannical policies, which caused unrest in the world and eventually led to the transfer of the Mandate of Heaven.

This also means that the imperial court must take certain people's livelihood into consideration and cannot act arbitrarily.

The powerful are not afraid of the people's rebellion because the people are powerless.

The imperial court was worried that the people would rebel and that the mandate of heaven would change.

Chu Wujiang agreed solemnly:
"Your Excellency the Prime Minister is right."

"This Marquis has never agreed with the Duke of Zhenguo's excessive promotion of spiritual rice."

"The entire Longzhou has completed the negotiation. The area of ​​spiritual rice cultivation will be reduced by about half next year."

“At the same time, we are expanding overseas to find territories where we can grow crops.”

Chu Wujiang immediately stated his political stance. Although he had a good relationship with the Duke of Zhenguo, he always stood on the side of the Prime Minister on the spiritual rice policy.

After all, it was he who proposed the strategy of restricting Lingmi.

There is no way he would defect.

The Prime Minister said this specifically to let Chu Wujiang state his position again.

A smile appeared on his stern face, and he continued:

"A few months ago, the Champion Marquis proposed that the number of acres of spiritual fields be linked to the title and merit. This policy takes advantage of the situation and I fully agree with it."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince praised the Marquis of Guanjun for his military prowess and wisdom in maintaining order in the country. This is true."

Chu Wujiang quickly said politely:

"Thank you for the compliment, Prime Minister."

Fang Xiang continued:

"Now that the plan has been finalized, we only need to wait for the court to approve it, and then we can spread the word to the whole country to ensure the grain production during the spring planting season next year."

"This Prime Minister and the Confucian sect will also set an example."

"More than half of the Fang family's spiritual fields in Tianjing will be overthrown, leaving only the mortal species."

"Similarly, I have persuaded the Cui family, the Lu family, the Li family, and Duke Liguo to abide by the Lingtian Agreement."

"Yuanji Academy will issue an order to its students to support the restriction of spiritual rice. Those who violate the order will be expelled from the school."

"This policy came from the suggestion of Champion Hou."

"I think we should let the Marquis have a look first."

hiss~
Chu Wujiang was shocked when he heard this.

It is more difficult to touch interests than to touch the soul. This time, Fang Xiang has invested a lot of money.

He was actually able to convince several major families and Duke Liguo to agree to limit the spiritual rice, and mobilize the entire Yuanji Academy and command the Confucian disciples.

This is incredible.

Chu Wujiang couldn't help but ask:
"Mr. Prime Minister, how did you convince them?"

Fang Xiang smiled and said:
"It's nothing more than the word 'interest'."

"Champion, please look."

Fang Xiaoran was guarding quietly by the side. When he heard his father's order, he took out a thick memorial.

Chu Wujiang took the letter and looked at it carefully.

"Spiritual rice is a magical thing created by nature. It is not something that can be obtained by ordinary people. It should not be given to others lightly."

“So anyone who grows sacred rice must first examine the person and verify his position, in order to show the importance of the gift from heaven and the dignity of the imperial power.”

……

In this memorial, Prime Minister Fang wrote a lot of words in a very eloquent manner, generally adopting Chu Wujiang's policies and guidelines, and using them to determine the number of acres of spiritual rice based on titles, merits, and rewards.

This plan directly adopted the general ideas proposed by Chu Wujiang, but the Prime Minister also added a large number of supporting policies to improve the plan.

For example, if the cultivated area of ​​​​Liangmi exceeds an acre, the reporter will be rewarded.

For every acre of extra planting, a fine of 100 acres will be imposed, with no upper limit.

The reward was shared equally between the court and the whistleblower.

For example, encouraging the planting of ordinary grains, implementing tax reduction policies, and imposing heavy taxes on the planting of special rice.

One acre of good land can produce 10 kilograms of spiritual rice. A 50% spiritual rice tax is levied to curb the expansion of spiritual rice.

For example, encouraging the abolition of magical rice and the planting of rice instead, giving rewards, etc.

This memorial was written extremely well, taking into full consideration warriors from all over the country and the fact that landowners were planting a lot of spiritual rice because of its higher value.

A pound of spiritual rice can be sold for at least 5 taels of silver.

The output value is incomparable.

Therefore, all of the Prime Minister's policies are aimed at suppressing the output value of spiritual rice and making the world more inclined to grow grain.

Of course, any policy must take interest groups into consideration.

This memorial not only used titles and official positions to measure the corresponding acres of cultivation, but also added one more thing, a gift.

As long as the prince holds the power to bestow grace, he can allow his own faction to grow more spiritual rice, while the opposing faction cannot grow spiritual rice, thus taking action.

[No wonder the Prime Minister was able to convince other noble families to agree to limit the number of acres of spiritual rice. ]

[This plan is indeed perfect, and it also takes into account the interests of the noble families. ]

[There are just some questions that I wonder if the Prime Minister has not considered carefully.]

Chu Wujiang looked at it carefully, his heart skipped a beat, and he said quickly:

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, there are three problems with this memorial."

"First, the number of acres of spiritual fields allocated to warriors is too small. Scholars and juren have corresponding quotas, but only military jinshi have corresponding acres of spiritual rice."

"Secondly, the plan for the gift has not been finalized, and the loophole left is too big. The Duke of Zhenguo will definitely oppose it, and he will oppose it very strongly."

"Third, if the government cuts taxes, where will it fill the fiscal gap?"

The Prime Minister looked at Chu Wujiang with a little surprise.

He left two traps and a question on this memorial.

I didn't expect Chu Wujiang to dig it out after just one look.

【This kind of literary and administrative ability is what you deserve to be admitted into my school. 】

The Prime Minister's expression became more eager:
"Champion Hou Guo is a man of both civil and military talents."

"But the Duke of Zhenguo owns 20 million acres of good farmland, and the other dukes have no less than him. These good farmlands are essentially distributed to vassal families, and there are countless martial arts scholars and martial arts candidates among them."

"The imperial court has set up an imperial examination. The military scholar is just a status, but there are many more of them than the civil scholar."

This is different from Chu Wujiang’s previous life.

In the world of martial arts, in order to win over more warriors and encourage independent practitioners to join the court's camp, the imperial court has been very generous in the number of places for martial arts scholars.

If you are a warrior in the Yuantai realm and want to take the examination for martial arts scholar, you can pass it by just clicking on it, without being restricted by the number of places.

Of course, there is no salary or benefits, it’s just an identity.

In comparison, Wen Xiucai does have certain advantages.

The Prime Minister continued the court's consistent policy and said in a deep voice:

"If you don't exclude the Wu Xiucai and Wu Juren."

"All parties can completely circumvent through Wu Xiucai and disrupt the demarcation of the spiritual fields."

Chu Wujiang said quickly:
"Just because the Duke of Zhenguo owns 20 million acres of good farmland doesn't mean that all of it belongs to him personally."

"You should also know that nobles have vassal families and servants."

"These properties are extremely complex and involve a wide range of connections."

"If you want to be strict, be strict with everything."

"If you want to be tolerant, be tolerant of everything."

"If a Juren is comparable to a Wujinshi, how can people be convinced?"

"Why not just abolish the privileges of scholars and juren and treat everyone equally."

Normally, the Duke of Zhenguo would of course own the income from these 20 million acres of fertile land. At the same time, in order to keep servants and adopted sons, the right to use the land would actually be divided among his adopted sons as an incentive.

The same is true for the Chu family.

The Lin family, the Wang family, and Uncle Fu's Zeng family all have the right to benefit from the land.

It is these solid alliances of interests that make the servants willing to fight to the end.

Chu Wujiang is worried that if this policy continues, the value of military scholars and military candidates will be further devalued.

The Prime Minister said in a deep voice:
"That won't work. After all, we need to gain the support of the majority of gentry before we can implement this policy."

"As for the warriors, the court will have its own grace."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince will not mistreat his meritorious officials, and I know this in my heart."

This is a question of stance.

The thing Chu Wujiang was most worried about happened.

The Prime Minister left these two loopholes just to allow the Duke of Zhenguo to oppose.

The spiritual rice restriction law became a tool for court struggles.

Whoever opposes me will be punished more severely.

He couldn't help but say:
"This will greatly increase the difficulty of implementation!"

"What would those border warriors think?"

"Please think twice, Prime Minister."

The Prime Minister smiled. He was not angry, but said slowly:
"I am deeply impressed by the sincere heart of Champion Hou."

"If I just give in, will the Duke of Zhenguo agree?"

Certainly not.

The struggle between the two sides has reached this point, and neither side will give in.

We must oppose anything that the enemy supports!

Chu Wujiang couldn't help but fall silent.

We are all smart people, and things are getting worse and worse.

The Prime Minister continued:

"Moreover, I want to ask you one thing. Spiritual rice is related to the common people of the world. The Duke of Zhenguo is known as the saint of farmers, but he is harming the world like this. Do you have any shame?"

"If he is willing to compromise, his true self can also be compromised."

"But the Duke of Zhenguo never took a step back."

Fang Xiaoran chimed in:

"Ever since the Champion Marquis offered his advice, my father has been trying to reach a consensus with the Guardian Duke many times."

"The Duke of Zhenguo vetoed everything."

"It's not that we are unwilling to compromise, but the situation forces us to do so."

"Now that winter has arrived, we must set a policy before the beginning of next spring, issue orders to the state government, mobilize officials, and inspect the fields."

"As for the gift plan, we also want to resolve the counterattack of the Duke of Zhenguo as much as possible, so we left a loophole."

"People like Duke Liguo, Duke Weiguo, etc. can all be persuaded one by one!"

Fang Xiang and his son joined forces. Chu Wujiang couldn't find any rebuttal opinions at the moment, so he could only give in temporarily:

"This Lord is not familiar with the affairs of the people's livelihood."

"I only ask that the Prime Minister treat this with caution and do not mistreat the warriors from all over the country."

Chu Wujiang had no idea whether the implementation of this policy would cause a backlash. Even though he had experience in his previous life, he had never governed the world.

Master Dafan taught him a lesson.

Don't take anything for granted.

The Prime Minister smiled and said:

"As long as the Marquis helps, why worry about not being able to accomplish great things?"

"Xiao Ran, bring me that newspaper."

Fang Xiaoran immediately took out the newspaper that Chu Wujiang used to deal with the Sima family.

The Prime Minister pointed at the newspaper and said softly:

"The newspaper made by Champion Hou is really a good thing."

"The court used to have official reports to convey the court's policies, but they were not as widely publicized as this newspaper."

"Now that the imperial court is going to implement the spiritual rice restriction law, I wonder if the new newspaper run by Marquis Guanjun can include the corresponding laws and arguments?"

"It would be even better if you could add some content about His Royal Highness the King of Qin." Xiang Zhuang danced with a sword, aiming at Pei Gong.

The Prime Minister intends to kill three birds with one stone.

First, this policy as a whole suppresses the interests of military men, while retaining the conditions for granting favors and winning over those who are willing to follow the prince's party.

Second, Confucianism can demonstrate its own morality and sacrifice, and gain an advantage in the subsequent battle between Confucianism and Taoism.

Third, the prince's party can take the opportunity to destroy the reputation of the Duke of Zhenguo and the King of Qin.

Regarding the Lingmi issue, who supports it and who opposes it?

[Every step is carefully planned, and there are murderous intentions everywhere. 】

【Fang Xiang is truly worthy of being the governor of Kyushu.】

Chu Wujiang now understood why Fang Xiang, with his extraordinary talent, could compete with the Duke of Zhenguo.

The Duke of Zhenguo's nickname is [Flipping Hands], which means turning his hand makes clouds and turning his hand back makes rain.

Fang Xiang's nickname was "Zhen Jiuzhou". He suppressed Jiuzhou with his own strength.

The Prime Minister put down the newspaper and asked:

"What does Champion Hou think?"

Chu Wujiang shook his head firmly:

"I can provide some printing presses and some experience in newspaper management."

"But as for the writing of the article, I am just a military man and I am incapable of doing anything."

Chu Wujiang did not intend to completely oppose this policy.

At least this time the Confucian school invested heavily in getting the aristocratic families to grow crops instead, which is a good thing in the end.

Their original intention was bad, and Chu Wujiang planned to carry it out well.

The balance that Chu Wujiang needs to strike is to push for restrictions on spiritual rice while trying not to offend the Qin King's party as much as possible.

After all, the Duke of Zhenguo was quite nice to him.

This is really a tightrope to walk. If you are not careful, you will only be on one side.

The Prime Minister smiled meaningfully and said:
"The Marquis is not an ordinary warrior."

"If I take the imperial examination, I can easily win the first place."

"It's a waste of talent to be a doctor of martial arts in the Imperial College."

"Now that Duke Liguo is seriously ill and unable to manage affairs, the court needs pillars like you."

The Prime Minister does not care about Chu Wujiang's neutrality, just as the Confucians know that the Buddhists want to be fence-sitters.

As long as the other party surrenders to us, we have a way to fix him in the faction step by step.

For example, the Buddhist sect wanted to take advantage of the situation, but was misunderstood by the Taoist sect, and the two sides started killing each other. Over time, this pretended neutrality turned into taking sides.

The same approach was taken towards their treatment of Chu Wujiang.

Chu Wujiang first came to the Imperial College to be a doctor of martial arts, and at the same time gave advice and wrote articles for the Confucian school. If he could pass the imperial examination and get the first place, it would be difficult for him to leave the circle.

The Prime Minister made an explicit hint.

Chu Wujiang smiled and said:

"You are too polite, Prime Minister. I am an uneducated person. If I take the imperial examination, I will harm the country and the people."

"As for the Tiance Army, it is managed by the followers of Duke Li. How could this Marquis have the intention of spying on it?"

"No, absolutely not."

Chu Wujiang found that after entering Tianjing, his original plan was completely shattered. No matter whether it was the crown prince or the prime minister, they used one method after another to win them over.

As long as you don't explicitly refuse, I can make you my own.

The Prime Minister smiled and said:
"Duke Liguo mentioned this to me a while ago, saying that he wanted to find a suitable successor."

"If he met the Champion Marquis, the Duke of Li would surely be delighted."

Seeing that the Prime Minister wanted to tie him to the chariot, Chu Wujiang quickly changed the subject and said:
"Thank you, Prime Minister, for your kindness."

"But I still have a question. After the land tax is reduced, where do you plan to make up for it?"

In fact, the court's finances were not abundant. Chu Wujiang spent tens of millions of taels of silver just to fight the mermaids. With the increase in rebellions, financial expenditures also increased.

For example, during the two months that Chu Wujiang came to Beijing, the Yellow Armor Army in Leizhou caused a lot of trouble.

Every time the leader of the Xuanyuan Sect made trouble, the court had to increase a lot of expenses. Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had the support of the Tao family, the money of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the money of the court were not the same thing.

The Prime Minister pondered and said:

"To be honest, sir, the current price of this official salt is 70 coins per pound."

"If it can be raised to 100 coins per pound, plus the taxes on spiritual rice and the confiscated property, it should be enough."

Chu Wujiang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately objected:
"Mr. Prime Minister, the price of salt is already very high."

"Many people make a living by smuggling salt."

Although the Chu family had planned to manufacture private salt, a promising business at sea, even the Fayuan Temple had joined in. The higher the salt price, the larger the private salt market would be.

He should be happy.

But Chu Wujiang still subconsciously opposed it and made his position clear.

The Prime Minister nodded and said:
"This salt price is indeed high, but it can be higher."

"If the people can't afford salt, we can still find a way out. But if there is a food shortage, it will be a disaster."

"It's just the lesser of two evils."

Land tax is a direct tax, while salt price is an indirect tax. In terms of the pain of tax burden, the Prime Minister's point of view is more correct.

But Chu Wujiang had been communicating with the Prime Minister for so long and had never been able to gain the upper hand. This time he finally found a flaw.

He immediately seized the moral high ground and shook his head:

"Mr. Prime Minister, although it is a matter of weighing the pros and cons of two evils."

"If the price of salt rises, the people will not be able to afford salt, and they will eventually be regarded as greedy officials."

"A sage once said: What is now called a good minister was what was called a traitor to the people in ancient times."

"That's true!"

Ministers who accumulate wealth are traitors to the people.

These two words are heavy.

Upon hearing this, Fang Xiaoran immediately drew his sword and shouted:

"Marquis Guanjun, please don't humiliate my father!"

"My father has always been considerate of the people and voluntarily gave up some acres of spiritual rice to set an example."

"How can you be considered a minister who accumulates wealth?"

"How can you smear him as a traitor to the people?"

As a son, Fang Xiaoran had to stand up and fight back severely when Chu Wujiang accused the Prime Minister to show his filial piety.

As the saying goes: It is disrespectful to scold the father in front of the son.

Fang Xiaoran practiced the "Swordsmanship of the Sage", and his every word and action must be in line with the way of a gentleman. Chu Wujiang scolded his father, so he naturally had to express his anger appropriately.

boom!
This was the first time that the two people's auras collided at such a close distance.

Chu Wujiang saw a roc flying high in the sky, a white tiger choosing its prey, a candle dragon coiled in the body, and so on.

A mixture of countless mythical beasts.

His aura became stronger, and these divine beasts all showed signs of anger.

Within just a few months, Fang Xiaoran made further progress. Under the pressure of Chu Wujiang, the bloodlines of various divine beasts further merged with each other and were no longer separate from each other.

But Chu Wujiang's progress is even more terrifying.

Fang Xiaoran saw the fierceness, the murderous spirit, the bravery, and the supreme sword energy.

Chu Wujiang was never afraid of any momentum. It was enough for him to directly activate the martial luck in his body.

People with martial luck are least afraid of oppression from powerful forces.

Chu Wujiang only relies on the [Divine Bravery] characteristic to block the breath of the primordial spirit.

What can Fang Xiaoran do if he has the blessing of a divine beast?
The Prime Minister immediately rebuked:
"Xiao Ran, step back."

"My father isn't angry, why are you angry?"

"The Champion Marquis is considering the people. This is a public matter."

"Don't be impulsive in official matters, and don't have any personal feelings!"

Fang Xiaoran immediately controlled his emotions perfectly and apologized respectfully:

"Yes, Father."

"Marquis Guanjun, I couldn't hold back for a moment, please forgive me, sir."

If Fang Xiaoran wants to become a Confucian sage, he is naturally a qualified actor.

When you should be angry, you should be as angry as possible; when you should be calm, you should be as calm as water. Everything should be in accordance with etiquette.

Chu Wujiang smiled and said:
"It is only natural to speak for my father."

"I have nothing to blame."

"It's just that I don't intend to change my mind."

Champion!
Fang Xiaoran frowned slightly, but the Prime Minister said with a smile:
"Champion Hou's words are absurd."

"The court has to spend money, and the soldiers have to be rewarded."

"This time, the Champion Marquis defeated the merman, and the total expenditure of the court was no less than 30 million taels of silver."

"How can I, as a minister, seek fame and reputation by being a thief who loves the people?"

"A minister who accumulates wealth is still a good minister."

"If you continue to make the people suffer, you will be blamed for your own mistakes."

"If I don't come to be this good minister, who can do it?"

The Prime Minister is very clear about his policies. Some people benefit from them, while others are criticized.

From his own logic, reducing the land tax and then taking advantage of the salt tax would at least be a more reasonable approach.

The Prime Minister was so enthusiastic that Fang Xiaoran felt deeply proud.

As if there were tens of millions of people, I would go.

Chu Wujiang also knew that indirect taxes were much superior to direct taxes and were an advanced technology for fleecing.

In the 17th century, the Netherlands had the heaviest taxation in Europe.

The per capita tax is much higher than that of the Ming Dynasty. It is no exaggeration to say that it is extortionately sucking the marrow out of the bones.

However, their tax burden is lower than that of the people of the Ming Dynasty during the same period. In addition to the developed commercial system, this is mainly because their tax base is mainly consumption tax and indirect tax.

The people had their blood drawn, but no one knew how much was drawn.

For example, the most expensive beer in the Netherlands is taxed at a maximum of 240%.

They alleviated the public's experience of the pain of taxation through more reasonable taxation methods.

Chu Wujiang recalled the financial revolution in the Netherlands in the 17th century and added:
"In that case, I have a suggestion."

The Prime Minister immediately said:

"Champion Hou, you can talk as you please."

Chu Wujiang said in a deep voice:

"I propose to levy a comprehensive tax on spiritual medicine, elixir, tobacco, and alcohol, etc., and implement a tiered tax system."

The Prime Minister was finally moved and said:
"Let's try to explain it."

Chu Wujiang explained:

"Prime Minister, if the court collects land tax, the poorest people will suffer."

“If a salt tax is imposed, those who can afford to eat private salt will be hit less, and at the same time, the poorest people will have to make a miserable living and cannot even afford salt.”

"If we impose alcohol tax and tobacco tax, only those who can afford to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes will be taxed."

"We should tax the rich more and the poor less."

Chu Wujiang is not against collecting taxes, but he is against taxation projects that target the poor.

Chu Wujiang understood that the biggest financial problem of the feudal dynasties in his previous life was that the people they taxed were always the poorest.

This resulted in the people being unable to bear the financial consequences once their means of finance were put into effect, and they had no choice but to rise up in rebellion.

If your financial structure is based mainly on land tax, your society will be most likely to collapse.

Chu Wujiang began to explain the different effects of these taxes and argued why indirect taxes should be levied.

When the imperial court collects taxes, it is better to focus on [attractive products] rather than [daily necessities].

Liquor and tobacco taxes belong to the former, while salt taxes belong to the latter.

The Prime Minister fell silent upon hearing this. The taxation mechanism of the Tianming Dynasty was extremely simple, and there was no such thing as a tiered tax system.

For example, in the Netherlands in the 17th century, the cheapest beer was taxed at 23%, while the most expensive beer was taxed at 240%.

Whoever drinks the most expensive beer pays the most tax.

Therefore, the Netherlands had the heaviest tax burden in Europe, much higher than that of the Ming Dynasty, but its economy was still able to develop properly.

Of course, this method of collecting taxes requires the imperial court to have more sophisticated capabilities in managing society.

Chu Wujiang still had doubts as to whether the Tianming Dynasty had this ability.

But it did not prevent Chu Wujiang from making such a suggestion.

Seeing that the Prime Minister and Fang Xiaoran fell into silence, he couldn't help but ask:
"Prime Minister?"

Fang Yuan was completely moved. He could feel the subtlety of this tax plan and couldn't help but say:

"Marquis Guanjun, are you interested in becoming the Minister of Revenue?"

Chu Wujiang shook his head and said:

"I am just a military man, and I am not capable of taking on this important task."

"Just ask the Prime Minister to think twice."

"Tax the rich more and the poor less."

The Prime Minister took a deep breath:

“If we levy taxes on spiritual medicine, elixirs, alcohol, and tobacco, we will offend a lot of people.”

"Many of them are from sects and aristocratic families, and they are the business of the royal family."

Chu Wujiang finally raised his eyebrows and said proudly:

"Since the Prime Minister is willing to bear the infamy, what does this infamy mean?"

The Prime Minister was suddenly speechless.

This boomerang seems to come a little too fast.

It is easy for me to make the people suffer a little more and bear the blame.

Anyway, the people can't do anything to him.

But stealing money from the powerful, from the ministers in the court, or even from one's own allies is another matter.

The Prime Minister had no choice but to say:
"This is a serious matter, please think twice."

(End of this chapter)