Chapter 1240 Envy and jealousy?

Seeing that Pei Zhixiu seemed to be deliberately pretending to be stupid in front of her, An Miaoyi said seriously:

"Sister, you are very smart and you will definitely understand the seriousness of this. Please put your husband's career first!"

Pei Zhixiu wanted to say something after hearing this, but An Miaoyi continued:
"Sister Zhixiu, my husband has always listened to you the most. If you can write a letter to him at this time and explain the pros and cons to him, then you will be able to dispel the lies of those treacherous flatterers!"

"You can go back and think about it carefully. There's no need to give me an answer right now! But sometimes, Jixiu sister, choices are more important than hard work!"

Pei Zhixiu didn't say anything when she heard that, and An Miaoyi changed the subject and started talking about parenting experiences. The two mothers chatted for half an incense stick of time before Pei Zhixiu said goodbye and left. An Miaoyi also sent Pei Zhixiu to the gate of the yard.

When Qiqige sent Pei Zhixiu away and returned to An Miaoyi, An Miaoyi asked in a deep voice:

"Are you sure the Marshal has mentioned this to her?"

Qiqige nodded and said with certainty:

"The Attendant Department said that when the Marshal stayed at her place, he often talked to Pei Zhixiu about his ideals and ambitions, as well as some ideas for the future, including the tiered tax rate. However, it is said that although Pei Zhixiu listened a lot, she basically did not express her ideas and just existed as a listener!"

An Miaoyi didn't say anything when she heard this, but her expression revealed a little envy. Although she and Ye Mingsheng didn't have much love, as a wife, she always hoped that Ye Mingsheng could open his heart to her and let her know what was in Ye Mingsheng's heart...

However, what made An Miaoyi extremely disappointed and regretful was that, except for a period of time after they got married, when Ye Mingsheng trusted her and was willing to tell her what was on his mind, at other times Ye Mingsheng would never talk to her about such things. Even some of her ideas on government affairs were expressly prohibited!
She only found out about the huge tiered tax rate afterward, and she hadn't heard any rumors about it beforehand. So when she heard that Pei Zhixiu had known about it for a long time, An Miaoyi felt a little sad.

An Miaoyi shook her head slightly, no longer thinking about it, and after a moment's hesitation, she asked Qiqige:

"How is Cui Zibo doing now?"

Qiqige whispered:
"It is said that the situation is not very good. Although the doctors at the medical school have tried their best and used all possible methods, Cui Zibo is now completely blind. Someone at the medical school said that Cui Zibo's recovery is just a matter of time!"

An Miaoyi heard this and asked in a low voice:

"Did the medical school say how long it would take?"

"It is expected to be winter, no later than this year."

Hearing Cui Zibo say this, An Miaoyi felt a little sad. Although she rejected Cui Zibo's courtship back then, she didn't really dislike Cui Zibo in her heart. In addition, the two of them were relatives, so An Miaoyi didn't feel very good when she heard Cui Zibo say this.

At this moment, Qiqige glanced at An Miaoyi, and then continued to speak:
“Mr. Cui has asked Cui Hang to take over many things now…”

Hearing this, An Miaoyi nodded slightly. There were not many talented people in the younger generation of the Cui family. Although there were no extremely evil people, most of them were playboys who indulged in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. They only knew how to seek pleasure and be jealous of others. Last year, a group of Cui family members had a fight with another group of yamen in Manchun Garden because of jealousy, and almost someone was killed.

Fortunately, Yijing prefect Liu Ning suppressed the matter in the end and did not let it get out of hand. In the end, a big thing was reduced to a small thing, and these playboys did not have to go to jail. But even so, Cui Shao taught a lesson to the Cui family members who participated in the fight and rushed back to Liaoyang.

In fact, Cui Shao was somewhat helpless about his own family's problems. Because there were too many things to do in the court, most of his energy was focused on court affairs, which led to some negligence in the training of the younger generation of his family.

Cui Shao's solution to this matter was to prevent them from entering officialdom, but to raise them within the family to prevent them from causing bigger troubles in officialdom. Anyway, the Cui family was now wealthy and powerful, so there was no problem in raising a few second-generation rich children.

As for the future of the family, Cui Shao has been focusing on training two people, one is his eldest son Cui Zibo, and the other is his nephew Cui Hang. In terms of the future careers of the two, Cui Shao also has a clear division of labor for the two. He hopes that Cui Hang will serve as Cui Zibo's deputy in the future, and the two cousins ​​will work together to support the Cui family.
However, with Cui Zibo's illness, Cui Shao's division of labor between the two brothers Cui Zibo and Cui Hang was officially declared bankrupt. In this way, Cui Shao's support for Cui Hang was expected by many people···················
Zhu Xiaowen should be the most disappointed about this. After Cui Zibo fell ill, Zhu Xiaowen believed that he had the opportunity to become the heir to Cui Shao's future political legacy because of his dual identities as Cui Shao's student and niece-in-law. For this reason, he specially asked his connections to convey a message to An Miaoyi, hoping that An Miaoyi could help him say a few words to Cui Shao.

An Miaoyi had also thought about Zhu Xiaowen's proposal. After all, Zhu Xiaowen was now the Minister of Dali Temple, and was only one step away from entering the cabinet. The most important thing was that Zhu Xiaowen was only 37 years old. At his age, as long as he did not make any mistakes in the future, entering the cabinet was almost a foregone conclusion.

And if she helped Zhu Xiaowen in this matter, then Zhu Xiaowen would return the favor in the future, and she would have an extra strong supporter in the court. Moreover, Zhu Xiaowen's position as the Dali Temple Minister was also a very important position, and he could exert influence on many things. Although she had some thoughts about this matter, after weighing the pros and cons, An Miaoyi finally gave up this idea. After all, she didn't want to intervene too much in the disputes within the Cui family, which would be good for the relationship between her and Cui Shao.

As for Cui Hang, An Miaoyi had met him before when she lived in Cui's house. However, Cui Zibo was there at that time, so An Miaoyi did not pay too much attention to this nephew of Cui Shao.

In her impression, Cui Hang is a taciturn person who does not have much presence in the crowd, which forms a sharp contrast with Cui Zibo, who always wants to express himself and show his abilities.

However, now that Cui Zibo has fallen ill, Cui Hang has been chosen by Cui Shaoli as his successor. An Miaoyi also feels that she needs to get to know this new star of the Cui family better.
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Lin'an, Plum Blossom House

Ye Mingsheng looked at the urgent letter that Cui Shao had sent him over an distance of eight hundred miles, and he also felt that it was a bit tricky.

He instructed Ye Cheng to release the news about the tiered tax rate. Ye Mingsheng just wanted to see how these people in the court would react.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng expected that there would be a lot of opposition. After all, the issue of the tiered tax rate does involve the interests of many vested interests. Once it is really implemented, they will have to pay more taxes than before. These people are definitely unwilling to do so. Ye Mingsheng had already thought of this!
But at this moment Ye Mingsheng had to admit that the voices of opposition were much louder than he had expected. Even people like Gu Sansi and Zhang Juning, who had always firmly supported the reform, remained completely silent at this moment. Cui Shao even wrote him a handwritten letter, firmly expressing his opposition.

On the military side, people like Zhao Han, Yuan Song and others remained silent and did not express any opinions, but Ye Mingsheng could feel that as one of the vested interests, they did not support the implementation of this idea.

Ye Mingsheng was still a little disappointed about this, but he also understood that for many people, the progressive tax rate was too advanced.

Although he was still a little unwilling in his heart, Ye Mingsheng had to make a correct and mature decision···················

Just like the question Jingren asked himself in the letter before, does the country belong to the emperor?
Although Ye Mingsheng was a little curious about why Jingren asked such a profound question, he still gave his own thoughts and insights!

Although every dynasty has shouted that all under heaven belongs to the king and all the people in the world are the king's subjects, saying that the world belongs to the emperor alone!
But it was just talk. If the emperor really believed that the world belonged to him and he could do whatever he wanted, then he was definitely a big idiot! He was not far from death!
Ye Mingsheng believed that the country belonged to the ruling class, and the emperor was the representative of the ruling class. The relationship between the two sides was very complicated!
The emperor needs the ruling class to help him maintain his rule, but he also needs to guard against them trying to undermine him. The ruling class needs the emperor to guarantee their own power and position, but they also worry that the emperor's actions will infringe upon and harm their own interests!

The two sides are like a relationship of unity in opposites. They have common interests in many areas, but different ideas in some areas!
Therefore, an important job for an emperor is to find out where the bottom line is through trial and error, and then unite as many people as possible above the bottom line!
The situation Ye Mingsheng is facing now is that as the de facto emperor, his ideas are beyond the acceptable range of many people.

Under such circumstances, if Ye Mingsheng insists on forcing the project, he will have to bear risks and pay a price...

Ye Mingsheng is unwilling to take the risk in the current situation, so he has decided to follow the good advice, but this does not mean that Ye Mingsheng will completely give up the idea of ​​a tiered tax rate!

Perhaps the current progressive tax rate is not suitable for the current development of productivity, but this is one of Ye Mingsheng's dreams, so the progressive tax rate is only temporarily shelved. In the future, Ye Mingsheng will continue to explore and consider this aspect, but the magnitude will be smaller and he will strive to make small steps and quick progress.

Ye Mingsheng believed that he was not yet forty. Even though the average life expectancy was a little lower in this era, he still had at least twenty years to live. If he was a little more self-disciplined, it would not be a problem for him to surpass Kang Mazi. If he was luckier, it was not impossible for him to surpass the old man Shiquan. So there was no need for him to rush and he could just take it slow!

After temporarily shelving the idea of ​​a tiered tax rate, Ye Mingsheng will put more of his energy and work focus on the current deepening of reforms and maritime strategy.

In the past, in order to dominate the world, Ye Mingsheng needed to unite the officials and gentry represented by the aristocratic families in various places and prevent them from standing on the side of his opponents. Therefore, in some deep water areas of reform, Ye Mingsheng actually turned a blind eye.

Now that the country is unified, Ye Mingsheng has no worries, so Ye Mingsheng also asked for the full implementation of the reform. On the basis of the current reform, the two contents of "taxation according to land" and "fire consumption to the public" should be further implemented...
In order to ensure that the civil service group has the motivation to carry out their own will, Ye Mingsheng is planning a bonus system to increase the income of civil servants so as to make them more motivated.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng has always intended to introduce a bonus system, but silver has always been a very critical issue. There are tens of thousands of officials in the entire Great Zhou. Therefore, according to the calculations of the Guards' Office, once the bonus system is introduced, the annual fiscal expenditure will have to increase by at least one million taels of silver.

This is too much for the current Yijing court, so Ye Mingsheng has been slow to announce the bonus system, but this has always been in the plan!
Under the tax exemption policy of the Yijing court, the economic development of Guanzhong, Yunbing, Jingchu, Huainan and Anqing is in full swing, and the economic development of many places has exceeded expectations!
Therefore, after three years, when the taxation of these places is resumed, the financial situation of the court will be greatly improved. By that time, the navy fleet planned by Ye Mingsheng will have initially acquired combat effectiveness. Then it will be time for Ye Mingsheng to launch a large-scale war against Dongdao and Nanyang.
Ye Mingsheng hopes that during his lifetime, he can fully implement his reform measures in domestic affairs and make a start on the tiered tax rate.

As for external affairs, it is about conquering Dongdao and Nanyang. The Attendant's Office has a very interesting idea. If the Great Zhou wants to conquer the world, it must first conquer Nanyang. Only by controlling Nanyang and building a powerful navy fleet can it become bigger and stronger in more distant places and get more of the cake!
For this reason, an aide named Wang Zuo from the Imperial Guards suggested to Ye Mingsheng that he allow the Great Zhou merchants to conduct legal armament overseas, in order to protect their safety on the one hand and their interests overseas on the other.

Ye Mingsheng finds this idea very interesting, but the specific implementation stage requires more thinking and exploration······················
(End of this chapter)