Li Si's body felt chilly when he thought of his fellow disciple, and then he shook his head fiercely in his heart.

I was already offended so hard in the beginning.

It’s better not to have unrealistic ideas.

We went back to summon everyone from the Tingwei Mansion, from the assistant officers down to the officials, and everyone worked together to maybe... maybe... maybe... come up with a more perfect method!

Li Si comforted himself in this way, and followed the imperial driver in a confused way, heading towards the huge city of Xianyang in the distance.

The imperial cavalry was thirty miles away from Xianyang City and rode in the middle of the road.

Lao Wang Wan and Feng Quji, who stayed behind in the court, led many nobles and civil and military officials to greet him with respectful bows: "I respectfully welcome His Majesty the First Emperor on his return~!"

The people watching the excitement on both sides of the road also bowed in obeisance: "The people respectfully welcome His Majesty the First Emperor on his return journey~!!!"

"Your Majesty has an edict, all subjects are exempt from courtesy...Officials will accompany you...Common people go away..."

Zhao Gao got out of the Yuyu chariot and delivered Ying Zheng's verbal edict loudly.

After a while, Lao Wang Wan and Feng Quji led the officials and ministers, merged into the hundreds of officials accompanying them, and continued to march towards Xianyang City.

The crowd of people watching did not disperse, but followed the imperial driver step by step.

Now Ying Zheng's personal prestige is at its highest.

If it were released to future generations, he would probably be like a superstar, so people would want to join in the fun...even if they can't see the real person...

“That’s the straight road to Hexi Country, right?!”

When the imperial driver was about to enter Xianyang City, one of the officials accompanying him pointed at a wide concrete road leading to the west not far away and spoke.

As soon as these words came out, the civil and military officials who had not returned to Xianyang for more than a year all set their sights on the road to the west.

Many people even took out their telescopes and looked farther away!

When the emperor left Xianyang and patrolled south, the straight road leading to Hexi was only the beginning.

But now, it is impossible to see the end at a glance. Even if you use a telescope, you can't see the end...

Moreover, there are many cars and horses on the road, and there is an endless stream of traffic. It is obviously put into use.

Tens of thousands of foreigners worked hard to build the road for more than a year. I am afraid that it has long since been built out of Guanzhong and into Longxi County. Such a long distance is enough to charge a small amount of tolls from business travelers outside the Great Wall!

"The Hexi Straight Road has now been built to reach Didao County, a county in Longxi County. By the summer harvest this year, it is expected to be built out of Longxi County and connect to the border of Hexi Country."

Lao Wang Wan explained to everyone who was looking curiously.

This is much faster than expected. It was originally estimated that it would take two or even three years to build the border to Hexi.

Now it only took more than a year, saving half the time. It can be said that the progress is rapid.

However, this was due to the financial donations from the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government. In order to retain Qin Mo and prevent him from resigning as prime minister, they gritted their teeth and made promises to jointly bear the money and food spent on road construction.

During the construction of the road, tens of thousands of foreign laborers were fed with the blood and sweat of the ministers...

Many libertines went to road construction sites to earn pocket money, which was also paid with the blood and sweat of ministers...

The officials who looked around curiously, after figuring out the joints, all showed signs of constipation, which was worse than eating fly excrement.

"It's good to make it through. Once we make it through, we will be liberated!"

Li Si suddenly sighed and said with relief.

His family is really poor now. After two or three times, all their savings were lost to Qin Mo. In addition, Gongsun Ye was slandered for treason. He and Feng Jie were responsible for negligence and were fined one year by Ying Zheng.

.

During the more than a year in Baiyue, the family relied entirely on the eldest son Li You, who was the county guard, for support. Otherwise, the family of Tingwei, one of the nine dignitaries, would have to borrow money from the court to survive.

It’s so miserable!

Now that the Hexi Straight Road is about to be built, the family no longer has to worry about raising money to build the road.

Now that he has received his annual salary this year, his family will be well off. This is a blessing among misfortunes!

Well, the best of misfortunes is still unfortunate after all... The matter of re-establishing the supervision mechanism for the Yushi and Jinyiwei is like a ghost-headed knife, still hanging over their heads...

"I see that the Hexi Straight Road has been put into use. There are many business cars and horses passing by... I would like to ask Mr. Wang, if the toll tax, which is used to generate internal funds, has been collected?"

Feng Jie clasped his hands to Lao Wang Wan, frowned and asked.

This was one of the reasons why Qin Mo resigned as prime minister, and the officials finally got the secret recipe of concrete and planned to build all the roads in the world into concrete, so that Ying Zheng and Qin Mo would have no shame in collecting road tax.

But due to the delay in the southern expedition to Baiyue, the concrete road is now in repair condition, and I don’t know how it is!

Lao Wangwan said helplessly: "Hexi State has set up checkpoints at the border gates. In addition to collecting commercial taxes, it has also begun to collect toll taxes."

"Business travelers who go to Hexi country for business are all willing to pay. One is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer. I really can't help it."

"In my opinion... we can only wait until all the roads in the world are built with concrete. In the meantime, merchants can use other roads to get out of the congestion, which can also save a lot of time and cost."

"At that time, the toll tax on the Hexi Straight Road will naturally be abolished!"

The officials nodded, and that was all that could be done until now.

After all, if one is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer, if he has to stop him, it will seem like he is not trying to please both sides.

Even offending both sides!

…

While the officials were talking, the imperial driver had already entered Xianyang City.

But the situation in the city that came into view stunned the officials who had not returned home for more than a year.

On both sides of the road, there are densely packed caravans of carriages, horses and camels!

Among the merchants on these business trips, there are people from Chu who like to wear red clothes, people from Yanzhao who like to wear white clothes, and even people from Guanzhong who like to wear black clothes.

But the most numerous people are Qi people who are good at doing business, as well as foreign businessmen with high noses and deep eyes!

After the royal driver entered the city, the merchant carriages, horses, and camel caravans no longer dared to walk freely.

The merchants of Qin Dynasty bowed their hands to the emperor, while the merchants of foreign lands prostrated themselves on the ground.

"Why are there so many merchants?"

"A letter from home said that Xianyang has suddenly become prosperous and is many times more prosperous than before. I have already had an idea...but this..."

"Are they... all merchants traveling to Hexi Country?"

The officials looked at the carriages, horses and camels on both sides of the road and couldn't help but ask Lao Wang Wan various questions.

Old Wang Wan nodded with a wry smile and explained: "After Qin Xiang held the auction, the imperial driver left Guanzhong a few days ago, so you don't know. After a period of time, business travelers came from all directions.

Xianyang is like a carp crossing the river!"

"After so many business travelers arrived in Xianyang, they confirmed that the edict issued by His Majesty to revoke merchants' low status was true, and that the foreign treasures auctioned by Prime Minister Qin were true...then they purchased more goods, almost buying up all the goods in Guanzhong, and then

Even if it’s low-quality lacquerware made by ordinary people, I won’t let it go…”

"Then they went out of the country to sell their goods, and they all made a lot of money when they came back."

"This will also attract more business travelers to join the exodus. At the same time, a large number of foreign merchants will also rush to Xianyang..."

"I stayed in Guanzhong, working hard every day without touching the ground. I almost became Nei Shiteng's subordinate, helping him stabilize the security in Guanzhong!"

The officials were stunned after hearing this, and when they were about to ask how much tax revenue these merchants brought, they saw Zhao Gao coming out of the Yuyu chariot in front and shouting: "Your Majesty has an edict, Guanzhong Nei Shi Teng, Zhi Nei Shi Mao Jiao, please go up."

The car plays right."

"Here."

The two of them hurriedly clasped hands to accept the order, urged their horses to move forward to follow the Yuyu carriage, and got into the carriage in sequence.

In the car, besides Ying Zheng, there were also Qin Mo and Fu Su. The expressions of Jun and Chen were somewhat excited.

When Ying Zheng came up, he first asked Mao Jiao, the governor of Su Nei, "How will the business tax be while I'm going south?"

Zhisu Neishi was one of the Nine Ministers, roughly equivalent to the Minister of Finance, and was in charge of tax collection and fiscal expenditures in the Qin Dynasty.

And this Mao Jiao, after the Lao Ai Rebellion, advised Ying Zheng to treat his mother Zhao Ji well, so that the world would not shame him for being unfilial. He was very upright and dared to advise, and the key was to make Ying Zheng listen, so he was appreciated and worshiped.

As Shangqing, I am appointed to govern Su Neishi!

"Since His Majesty's southern tour, to this day, the commercial tax has increased dozens of times, exceeding the calculated tax and about 30% of the agricultural tax."

"This year, we may be able to give away several times more than the agricultural tax, which is 50% of the agricultural tax. If things continue at this rate, within ten years, the commercial tax will exceed the agricultural tax..."

Mao Jiao clasped his hands and replied solemnly.

Taxation in Da Qin can be roughly divided into three types, namely agricultural tax, accounting tax and commercial tax.

Agricultural taxes are collected in proportion to the output of farmland. They are taxes in kind and are paid into the national treasury.

In terms of taxation, it is a poll tax. Children collect less, adults collect more, and when they are old and decayed, they do not collect it. The poll tax goes into the inner treasury and is dedicated to the king.

The last thing on the list is commercial taxes, which go into the national treasury!

In the past, the Qin Dynasty did not regard merchants as human beings, so merchant taxes were extremely heavy.

Now Yingzheng has issued an edict to exempt merchants from low status and commercial taxes... but they have not been lowered. In fact, the tax rates for many commodities have even increased!

In particular, the tax rates for those emerging huge profit-making products under Qin Mo's name reach over 70% to 80%.
To be continued...