During the period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the annual tax revenue of the Han court was about 6 billion yuan. According to convention, 10% of this money, or 600 million yuan, was directly controlled by the emperor. In fact, Liu Hong squandered much more than this amount every year.
It reached an astonishing amount of more than three billion, and the national treasury was completely empty.
And Liu Xin now controls the money allocated to the internal treasury to 1%, and promises not to withdraw even a penny from the treasury, which makes all the ministers in the hall very surprised. Because these states under Liu Xin's rule
The total tax revenue last year was only 4 billion yuan, and one percent was only 40 million yuan, which is equivalent to 40,000 taels of silver.
In fact, the weather in several states under Liu Xin's rule has been good in recent years, and the grain harvests have improved year by year. However, due to the implementation of tax reduction policies, the total agricultural tax revenue is even lower than during the period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. The reopening of the Silk Road, although
It has brought rapid development of commerce, but the effects have not yet appeared in the past two years. The revenue from commercial tax is lower than that from agricultural tax, so the tax revenue is so low.
For the royal family, the expenses are very high. For example, so many ministers gathered here today to discuss matters, and each minister had a cup of fragrant tea in front of him. Although these high-quality teas were tributes sent from Jiangnan, Liu Xin paid them according to the price.
, the only convenience is to ensure the supply. Liu Xin stipulated that once every three days, in addition to providing tea to the ministers, he would also provide them with some snacks. These expenses must be paid from the internal treasury. After one year, the amount will not be enough
Philippines.
There are many other things that need to be spent, such as sacrifices, tributes, and annual gifts. Each cost is not a small number. And the biggest expense has not yet been revealed, that is, waiting for Liu Xin's children to grow up.
When adults divide their families into feudal lords, each transaction can be said to be an astronomical figure.[
The ministers who can attend today's court meeting are all Liu Xin's confidants. They usually have access to some confidential information and are very clear about the Han Dynasty's annual tax situation. They are all smart people. Naturally they know that after such independent accounting, the palace's inner treasury will have
How nervous. The ministers did not expect that Liu Xin would be forced into this position for the sake of the reputation of several women, so they all looked at each other in shock.
In the end, Jushou stood up, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is better to use a compromise method and make the two ladies concubines. The proportion of tax revenue allocated to the inner treasury every year will still be based on the convention of 10%. I don't know what your Majesty thinks.
how?"
Jushou was very much in favor of the independent accounting method proposed by Liu Xin. Liu Hong's example is there. After all, the emperor's power is too great. If the emperor can control the country's tax revenue at will, if the emperor becomes stupid,
It is very likely that the national treasury will be depleted. If Liu Xin's method is followed and the national treasury is separated from the internal treasury, this hidden danger can be solved well.
Of course, the idea that the whole world must be a royal land has penetrated into Ju Shou's bones, so he still does not want to limit the royal family's funds too little.
Unexpectedly, Liu Xin did not appreciate it. He waved his hand and said in a non-negotiable tone: "I have made up my mind and this matter needs to be discussed again. You should worry less about my family affairs and think more about the people of the world.
Think more about how to make our Han Dynasty more prosperous!"
This time, even Chen Gong lowered his head in shame, and the hall suddenly became quiet. Liu Xin continued: "I will give you three days to draw up a charter, and let the cabinet and six ministries perform their duties."
What matters must be decided by me, what matters need to be decided by the cabinet, and what matters can be solved by the six departments on their own, all need to be clearly defined!"
Three days were very tight, and everyone did not dare to delay. They hurriedly resigned and rushed to the cabinet office near the palace to discuss. These major events were enough to keep them busy for several days, and no one had time to discuss Liu Xin's affairs.
They were entangled in the matter of canonizing concubines.
In fact, Liu Xin's courage to propose such a compromise was not a whim, but the result of careful consideration.
Although the total tax revenue last year was only more than 4 billion yuan, it was only the income of the six states of Jing, Yi, Si, Liang, Yang, and Jiao. Among them, Yangzhou and Jiaozhou are still in the initial stage of development, and there is still a lot of room for development.
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The situation will be different next year, because the entire Han Dynasty has been unified. The six states of Ji, Bing, You, Qing, Xu, and Henan in the north have always been the most prosperous places in the Han Dynasty. Although years of war have caused the people in these places to live in poverty, but
Liu Xin believed that as long as there were two to three years of opportunity to recuperate, these places would soon regain their vitality and at the same time bring a large amount of tax revenue to the court. On the other hand, with the opening of the Silk Road, commerce would increase more and more.
The more prosperous the country becomes, the commercial tax will one day exceed the agricultural tax and become the main force supporting the Han Dynasty's finances.
With these two reasons, the imperial court's tax revenue will only increase, and even show a geometric growth. As the tide rises, the money allocated to the inner treasury will naturally increase. The difficulties are only temporary, and the future is bright.
bright.
Liu Xin doesn't have to worry about the inner treasury falling into a situation where money is available. Another important reason is that he has the support of Dahan Bank behind him.
In the past few years, Liu Xin has vigorously developed armaments, launched foreign campaigns, and subsidized the people, all of which required a large amount of financial and material resources. This level of taxation is not enough to support it. However, Liu Xin did not appear to be trapped in money and food like Cao Cao.
The reason why he did not end up in a militancy like Yuan Shao's was because of the support of the Han Dynasty Bank.
The banknotes issued by Dahan Bank are not only used in areas under Liu Xin's rule, but also in Western countries such as Dayuan and Kangju, and even in urban areas formerly controlled by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. They are also very popular hard currencies. And Ma Yun has always used silver
The total amount of tickets issued is controlled at a fairly safe ratio. As long as there is no nationwide bank run, Dahan Bank will be an inexhaustible mountain of gold and silver for Liu Xin.
Liu Xin did not have control over Dahan Bank. He was so confident because he had Ma Yun's support in this matter.
With thousands of years of experience, Liu Xin and Ma Yun naturally know that the history of China is actually a history of continuous changes in dynasties. The beginning of a dynasty is often the most prosperous period of the dynasty. It is really the rule of kings and ministers.
However, at the end of the dynasty, the emperors were either dissolute or cowardly. And every change of dynasties would bring serious disasters to the people.
The root cause of all this is the imperial system, but both Liu Xin and Ma Yun understand that in this era, not to mention the implementation of a republic, even the establishment of a constitutional monarchy is absolutely impossible, so the only solution is to limit the imperial power and put a cover on the emperor.
On the other hand, Ma Yun knows very well that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury and difficult to go from luxury to frugality. She and Liu Xin may be able to restrain themselves, but who can guarantee that their descendants will not be arrogant and extravagant? So,
, proactively limiting the royal family’s expenses to a lower level is also to enable their descendants to develop good habits of thrift.
Early the next morning, Liu Xin issued an edict to the world, canonizing Bian Yu, Cai Yan and the others, and awarded them with jade plates and golden books. At the same time, Qiaoer and the others were also named talented people. And Jushou, Tian Feng, Guo
Jia, Chen Gong and others were very busy with the matters Liu Xin had assigned them and had no time to give advice to Liu Xin anymore.[
Another day later, the new law of the Han Dynasty, which Ma Yun spent a lot of energy on revising, was also promulgated by Liu Xin. There was no essential difference between the new law and the old law in many places. They also emphasized the need to kill people to pay for their lives and to pay debts for money.
However, two core concepts were introduced in the new law, one is that private property is sacred and inviolable, and the other is that princes who break the law are equally guilty as common people.
These two laws were unimaginable in the past laws. Isn’t it the king’s land in the world? Everything in the world belongs to the emperor. As long as the emperor wants it, everyone must give it to him conditionally. How can it be considered private?
What about the sacredness and inviolability of property? In this era, people are divided into three, six, and nine classes. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the courtesy cannot be extended to the common people, and the punishment cannot be extended to the officials." How can the prince break the law and be guilty of the same crime as the common people?
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If these two articles of the new law were discussed in the court, they would probably be opposed by the ministers. Therefore, Liu Xin did not reveal it to Ju Shou and others in advance, but directly promulgated it. The emperor's words are gold-plated, let alone
The law was printed in black and white. By the time Jushu and others who were busy drawing up the charter saw this law, it was already the evening of the day. Their charter had just been drawn up and needed to be revised and polished overnight.
There is not even time to read the law carefully from beginning to end. Of course, it is impossible to discover some changes hidden in it, let alone put forward my own opinions.
However, in addition to the above two important changes in the law, there is also a relatively big change in punishment, that is, imprisonment is more often used instead of corporal punishment. Of course, for those who have committed the most heinous crimes, the death penalty is still retained, but only for
Beheading, as for Ling Chi, and tortures such as quartering the body with five horses have been permanently cancelled. Other punishments such as cutting off ears, noses, and digging out kneecaps have also been mostly abandoned. The only thing that remains is castration. Due to the special nature of the imperial palace, it is always necessary to use
To some eunuchs, it was still necessary to retain castration for some young men who were not slaves in the palace.
The ministers were busy until the middle of the night, and finally drafted the regulations required by Liu Xin. Seeing the fruits of their labor, the ministers were very excited, and no one even asked to go home to rest. Some people were still immersed in the regulations.
Among them, someone picked up the latest Han law that had just been sent from the palace and started reading it leisurely.
Suddenly, Chen Gong slapped the case and shouted: "That's not right! This law has been greatly changed. Why didn't Your Majesty discuss it with us in advance?"
It turned out that the ministers thought that the new law was just a re-printing of the old law originally written on bamboo slips, but they did not know that the content had undergone major changes, which immediately caused an uproar among the ministers.