After rebirth, I joined forces with my mortal enemy to seek revenge.

"Are you planning to exempt Jiannan from taxes?" Wu Lingjia frowned and said thoughtfully, "Yangzhou is one and Yizhou is two. Jiannan's annual tax is about 1.8 million guan. Although it is not as high as Yangzhou, it is exempted from tribute now. After deducting military expenses, there should be a lot of money left. If you exempt Jiannan from taxes, I'm afraid the other governors will complain about you."

After taking a sip of tea, Pei Jiaoran said, "There is nothing I can do. Those people from the Military Academy had to make trouble at this time, causing the Jiannan Army to destroy their territory in one fell swoop. Now the court still has to rely on them to fight against Tubo, and the Military Academy was at fault first, so the court cannot punish them. The Shen Ce Army is fighting alone. What I can do is to let Jiannan Road pay for its own food temporarily, and then pay them back from taxes next year."

Pei Jiaoran paused and continued, "The Jiannan Jiedushi has always been powerful. I intend to divide Jiannan Road into three parts, so that the three rivers can be separated and control each other.

She had this idea when she was in Lizheng Hall yesterday. However, she saw that the Emperor of Wei seemed to only want to solve the crisis at hand, so she did not raise this suggestion.

Listening to her words, Wu Lingjia smiled and said, "Actually, I have an idea too."

"Hmm?" Pei Jiaoran raised his eyebrows.

Wu Lingjia stood up and walked to the door, asked for paper and pen from the doctor in the building, and closed the door. Then she returned to her seat and started writing.

Seeing Wu Lingjia write the word "change" on the paper, Pei Jiaoran raised the corners of his lips thoughtfully.

"When the two taxes were first set, goods were heavier and money was lighter, but now goods are lighter and money is heavier. In the beginning, money was lighter and goods were heavier, and although there was a fixed amount of money for the two taxes, people would often give more silk when paying taxes. This had no obvious impact on the burden on taxpayers. However, as prices fall, taxpayers still have to pay taxes according to the original amount, so the burden is inevitably increased." Wu Lingjia said in a gentle tone.

Wu Lingjia continued writing on the paper, and as she wrote she spoke softly, "In the past, the common people paid about 3,200 to 3,300 coins for one piece of silk, and generally 10,000 coins were used to buy three pieces of silk. The price was a little high, but the number was not much. When it came to allocating military uniforms, they counted the number but not the price. This means that the tax revenue was low but the national expenditure was insufficient. Recently, the common people pay about 1,500 to 1,600 coins for one piece of silk, and generally 10,000 coins were used to buy six pieces of silk. Since the price has become cheaper, the number has gradually increased."

Her eyes fell on what Wu Lingjia wrote on the paper. She was very familiar with those numbers. They were the amounts of various taxes collected by the imperial court in recent years. Since the two taxes were first set forty years ago, according to the time when one piece of silk was 4,000 yuan and one dou of rice was 200 yuan, a tax payer who paid 10,000 yuan only had to pay two and a half pieces of silk. Now the tax amount remains the same, but grain and silk are getting cheaper, and the money is getting heavier. One piece of silk is only 800 yuan, and one dou of rice is only 50 yuan.

If prices fall but the amount of money remains the same, it means that the cash and the physical goods converted into two-tax money have not changed in terms of monetary quantity, but the purchasing power of cash and the physical quantity have increased significantly, which not only increases the burden on taxpayers, but also affects the expenditure of two-tax money.

Pei Jiaoran had also been the Minister of Revenue, and he immediately understood what Wu Lingjia wanted to do.

"Go on." Pei Jiaoran said with a smile.

"I have proposed two plans. If the court's cash expenditure is still based on the original fixed amount, the physical goods will be deducted from the actual estimated amount of the already reduced collection, at the cost of increasing the burden on taxpayers. The increased income from the two taxes will mainly benefit officials and soldiers who receive salaries from the court's taxes, and will not contribute much to the surplus of the national treasury." Looking at Pei Jiaoran, she saw a smile in her eyes. Wu Lingjia raised her eyes, "If we look at the purchasing power of the current currency, we can appropriately reduce the original amount of cash expenditure. If we still deduct it according to the tax price when the two taxes law was first established, the salaries of the court's civil and military officials will not only not be reduced, but the national treasury will also have a surplus. But..." Wu Lingjia raised her eyes and looked at Pei Jiaoran meaningfully.

Pei Jiaoran smiled upon hearing this, and continued along with Wu Lingjia's words, "Although these two methods take into account the income of court officials and the treasury, the people are not taken into consideration. The court still uses the actual estimate for the actual use of goods, and the actual expenditure is based on the initial tax price of the two taxes."

"Qingjia, you really understand me." Wu Lingjia simply threw away the pen and walked in the house, saying, "The so-called tax from Bei and Wu is to calculate the wealth of the population and collect taxes from the land. The combination of the two is the tax. But where do these taxes come from? They are taken from the people of the world. The court does not change the tax law and still collects taxes according to the previous habits, and the burden on the people is getting heavier. If this continues, it will do more harm than good to the country." She stopped and looked back at Pei Jiaoran, she smiled, "This time, not only will we change the two taxes, but we will also change the valuation of the collected goods from the actual valuation to the provincial valuation, and the valuation of the expenditure goods from the tax price of the two taxes to the provincial valuation."

Listening to Wu Lingjia's words, Pei Jiaoran asked, "Do you want the Shangshudu Province to determine the price?"

"Yes. In the past, in order to compete with the imperial court for financial benefits, local governments would almost always make actual estimates when sending envoys to the states. In this way, the local governments have the final say on how much money to give. What if the capital province unifies the pricing?" Wu Lingjia slowed down her voice.

Pei Jiaoran frowned and said nothing as she narrowed her eyes and looked at Wu Lingjia. She understood what Wu Lingjia meant. It was that the imperial court set a price higher than the actual price, which was actually a false price. Taxes were not collected according to the local real-time prices, and the prices of goods were artificially intervened. On the one hand, it could reduce the burden on the people and prohibit the state government from exploiting and devaluing. On the other hand, it could provide disaster relief at the lowest cost during disasters.

After a long while, Pei Jiaoran stood up and walked to the window with his hands behind his back. The idea proposed by Wu Lingjia was indeed satisfactory. Not only could it allow the court to have enough surplus, but it could also control local taxation. She abolished the tribute, dismissed the five envoys, reduced the troops, and allowed the three towns of Heshuo to return to the court, or reformed the salt and water transport, but these were only temporary solutions and not fundamental solutions.

The method proposed by Wu Lingjia directly attacks the root of the problem.

"Jia Jia, do you find it difficult?" Wu Lingjia blurts out.

Such a drastic reform will inevitably affect the interests of many people, from local governments to the imperial court.

"It's not difficult. As long as you want to do it, there is nothing difficult. You should draw up a detailed plan as soon as possible, and submit the memorial in the spring of next year." Pei Jiaoran took a deep breath and looked out the window. "If you have time in the future, go to the East and West Markets more often. Ask the people and merchants what they think. After all, the tax reform is aimed at them, and their demands need to be listened to and understood."

The purpose of tax reform is to reduce the self-consumption of the world and appease the people's uneasy emotions. It is not to subvert the existing order or let it fall into chaos. Therefore, the implementers need to listen to the demands of the demanders first and constantly revise the new law. It is not to just issue an imperial decree and ignore it. That is undoubtedly politically stupid and naive.