Urban Sims

Chapter 770
In fact, the old prince has always looked down upon Jenome, and he has extreme contempt for this greedy and lustful guy.

However, for the benefit of the Lucis family, once Jenome really came to the throne, the old prince would still agree to the marriage of the two families.

So after hearing that Jenome died, the happiest person was Elsa. She didn't have to marry an old man who made her feel sick.

And when Zhou Ming appeared in front of her and the family found another marriage partner for her, Elsa still resisted in her heart, but it was much better than before... The little Zhengtai who was two years younger than her in front of her , appearance, Elsa is quite pleasing to the eye.

Unexpectedly, the kid in front of her is young, but her mouth is extremely powerful. Her sweet words made her heart thump wildly, and the marriage arranged by the family changed her mentality from a little resistance to tacit obedience.

What about Zhou Ming?
What's on his mind?
In fact, he didn't want to agree to any marriage, and he didn't want to get entangled with any women anymore. He originally planned to exchange some benefits in exchange for the support of the Lucis family.

It's just that the old fox is worthy of being an old fox, and he devoured Zhou Ming to death in one fell swoop, making him immediately understand that his previous plans were not as seamless as he thought.

Facing the "marriage" rope that the old fox took the initiative to pull, he could only stick his head through it.

Of course, this does not mean that Zhou Ming just accepted his fate.

He is still young and still has a few years to struggle. Perhaps, he can avoid the fate of being locked up.

In this way, after gaining the support of the Lucis family.

Above the court, the weight of Zhou Ming's speech has finally increased a lot. On some important issues, he can also express his opinions, put forward his own opinions, and even give some eye-catching suggestions, so that the ministers Compliments.

So what's next?

What is Zhou Ming's plan?
He first investigated and understood what kind of challenges and problems the empire in his hands was facing.

After a thorough investigation, Zhou Ming summed up three major problems:

One, the finances are tight and the treasury is empty. It has been unable to make ends meet for 30 consecutive years. Now the remaining funds in the treasury are only enough to maintain the normal operation of the empire for three years. distressed situation.

Two, the intensification of private land mergers, the intensification of the differentiation between the nobles and the common people, the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer, the number of self-cultivating farmers and free people has decreased on a large scale, and the solidification of classes has made this huge empire that has been established for nearly 300 years appear. Out of a twilight.

Three, the aristocracy is full of extravagance and extravagance, but there are a large number of beggars at the bottom. Every winter, countless people freeze to death and starve to death. In some places, there are even signs of rebellion against the aristocracy, which makes people feel The empire pill.

However, after system analysis, it is speculated that this empire still has at least 500 years of national destiny, and it will not die in a short time.

"Why do you say that, System?" Zhou Ming asked.

"One, this empire is on a complete floating island, there is no hidden danger of foreign invasion, and it is in a unified state. It can mobilize a lot of resources to suppress the rebellion, and because there are a large number of feudal lords in the empire, they are very active in suppressing the rebellion. So the rebellion is unlikely to succeed."

"Feudal lords? System, I have to thank you for reminding me of this. With these feudal lords around, I, the emperor, feel even more worried." Zhou Ming said in a bad mood.

"In addition, the high-end forces in this empire are basically in the hands of the aristocrats. With these high-end forces to suppress, those low-level resistance forces can basically make no waves." The system said.

"High-end power?"

Zhou Ming shook his head: "That's true. In the high-energy plane, the resistance of the people at the bottom is indeed like ants in front of an elephant, being taken away like mowing grass."

But this also means that Zhou Ming doesn't need to solve the above problems, can he sit back and relax?

of course not.

It's not his style to choose to ignore.

Among the three problems, he must at least find a way to solve one of them.

Zhou Ming's focus is mainly on solving the "financial strain" problem.

On this issue, he held several court meetings to discuss solutions.

"Increasing taxes can only increase taxes on farmers, increasing the tax on an acre of land from 10% to 11%, so that the national treasury can increase by 500 million gold tower shields every year, basically making up for the shortfall."

"That's right, just add a little tax, and the farmers won't be burdened too much."

"10% tax is really not high. I heard that in many aristocratic territories, farmers have to hand over half of their harvest. In comparison, it is really nothing to increase taxes in the king's territory?"

In the palace, most of the nobles tended to add a little tax to the farmers in the royal area.

Here I want to explain that the so-called royal area refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the emperor. States, counties and counties have been established and officials are dispatched to manage them. It is a bit like the ancient society of country Z.

In the Aurunian Empire, the area adjacent to the king accounts for about one-third of the area, with a population of 15 billion, accounting for half of the total population, among which there are a large number of self-cultivating farmers and free people.

The other two-thirds belong to the territories entrusted to various noble lords, which are called "lord districts".

Seeing that Zhou Ming intends to solve the problem of financial constraints, the nobles who spoke first advocated that the key to solving the problem should be to increase taxes on the peasants in the "kingdom area".

This of course aroused the dissatisfaction and opposition of the "royalists".

"Why did you increase the tax on the peasants in the royal area, instead of asking the lords to increase the tribute to the royal family?"

"Yes, why put all the pressure on our farmers? You lords, don't you need to bear a little?"

"You know that the king's territory only accounts for one-third of the empire's land, but feeds half of the empire's population. The nobles' land has doubled, and we have to increase taxes on our farmers?"

"No, we don't agree."

During the court meeting, the Royalist faction and the Noble faction quarreled fiercely, and even almost raised their hands.

On the issue of money, no one is willing to cut flesh and bloodletting, and that faction can't back down half a step.

While Zhou Ming's head got bigger, he immediately understood that the main internal contradiction in the empire was the contradiction between the "royal faction" and the "noble faction".

And on the issue of interests, neither faction is easy to provoke, neither faction is difficult to compromise, and it is difficult for the two parties to reach a consensus.

Then what should be done?

How to solve the financial crisis?
It is impossible for Zhou Ming to agree to increase taxes on farmers. He said it would be 1%, but when it comes to the lower-level subordinates, he may increase by 3%, 5% or even higher, which directly kills the farmers.

So what about business tax?Is it okay to collect some taxes from the merchants?
Zhou Ming also had this idea, but quickly dispelled it. The so-called integration of government and business, the merchants are backed by nobles, and if they dare to reach out to the merchants, they are just making trouble for the nobles. It is no wonder that the nobles do not pick things up.

Therefore, if open source is not successful, then choose to reduce expenditure, spend less money, and adopt inaction.

How to rule by doing nothing?

One, reduce the number of celebrations.

Zhou Ming knew that, as the capital of the empire, in order to celebrate various festivals, the imperial capital held more than ten large-scale celebrations every year. Each celebration cost four to five million Golden Pagoda Shields. Nearly 50 million.

Thinking of such a huge expense, Zhou Ming directly cut it in half, and asked for frugal handling of the remaining celebration activities. In this way, about 200 million Golden Tower Shield expenses can be saved a year.

Two, reduce the number of servants in the palace.

Since the number of maids, servants, eunuchs, housekeepers and concubines in the palace exceeds ten thousand, Zhou Ming is the only one who serves him. This is too extravagant. It was not a small amount of severance pay, but the annual savings of the palace was around 5000 million gold tower shields.

Three, disarmament.

A large number of reductions belong to the army in the royal line.

Downsizing the royal army of 300 million people to 150 million... This encountered huge resistance and consumed a lot of Zhou Ming's energy, but after doing the ideological work of all the generals in the military and overcoming many resistances, the disarmament work , carried out smoothly.

Of course, although the number of people has been cut in half, Zhou Ming has not reduced the annual military expenditure of 1000 million gold tower shields, and even promised to increase in the future, so that the remaining 150 million elite soldiers will be turned into equipment Elites with better mobility and higher combat effectiveness... The overall combat effectiveness remains basically the same.

And after the elimination, the number of people has been reduced by half, which means that the logistics support has been reduced by half, the consumption of food and materials has been reduced by half, and the annual maintenance expenses saved are still more than 100 million gold tower shields.

Even after seeing the reduction of the Royal Legion, the burden on the national treasury was significantly reduced, and the combat power soared, the old prince Fred Lucis actually moved his mind to disarm, but due to various difficulties, it was difficult to overcome , and finally ended in failure.

In this way, after three "halvings", the financial strain has been greatly alleviated, and the gap between making ends meet has been successfully plugged, and Zhou Ming is slightly relieved.

(End of this chapter)