Hunting system, and I ended up becoming the empress!

Mu Ziqi sat down gently, "I will follow your instructions, Your Highness."

Xiao Zhixing shook his head and smiled, "You, too, are playing tricks on me. Don't you understand my temper? Trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people when you don't trust them. Tell me, do you want to go back to Nanfan?"

Mu Ziqi appears to be slow, low-key and gentle, but in fact he is restless and adventurous.

Mu Ziqi sighed lightly and smiled easily, "Your Highness is truly my confidant."

"To be honest, I really want to go back to Nanfan, earn some money, and offer you a country."

Xiao Zhixing also said, "Okay, if the great thing is accomplished, you will be the hereditary king without replacing the king of another surname, is that okay?"

Mu Ziqi's eyes were like torches. He stood up and knelt down, "Your humble servant obeys your command!"

This journey is full of dangers and difficulties, but for the sake of this unprecedented achievement, he is willing to give it a try even if it means his body is torn to pieces.

The gentleman's agreement was signed, and not long after, Mu Ziqi fell ill with a strange disease and was taken back by Xue Chen to recuperate, but he died on the way.

Then there was big news in Nanfan. The legitimate prince Wei Wen who had died early showed up and was recognized by the Nanfan emperor and written into the family tree.

These are things for later.

On the second day after meeting Mu Ziqi, Xiao Zhixing was summoned into the palace by Zhao Yunqi. He first met the empress dowager and finally went to Shengde Hall.

"I have been feeling increasingly weak these days. Yuan Sheng, I will leave these memorials to you. You can get familiar with government affairs in advance."

Zhao Yunqi said this, and without caring about her expression, he walked leisurely to the harem with his hands behind his back.

Xiao Zhixing turned around and asked Fulu, who was standing there, "Why don't you follow His Majesty?"

Fulu: "This old servant has been ordered to look after His Highness."

Woohoo, actually I want to leave too. Why does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince look a little scary?

Xiao Zhixing shook his sleeves and resigned himself to sitting on the newly added throne next to the imperial throne to read the memorials.

Soon, all the civil and military officials in the court knew that the emperor had officially let the prince handle state affairs.

It is said that the first minister who entered was scolded by the prince for being too talkative.

This stopped the old ministers who were about to see the emperor with their petitions in hand.

They all turned to the officials of Beizhou to learn about the prince's temperament and style of doing things.

It's true that a new ruler appoints new ministers. Alas.

Xiao Zhixing happened to see a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue complaining that the treasury was empty and the taxes that had just been collected had been spent again, so there was a shortage of money everywhere.

For such a big country, there are only 100,000 taels of silver in the treasury, which is really worrying.

Xiao Zhixing thought for a moment and said, "Eunuch Fulu, tell me to ask Duke Li and a few other old men to come over."

The empty treasury problem must be solved, and she already had a plan in mind.

Fulu responded and went in person to deliver the message.

The gentlemen who were in the classroom received the order and came together, but they brought a few new people with them. Upon closer look, they were the gentlemen from the Court of Gentlemen who were thrown into the six ministries by Zhao Yunqi.

It’s not that they value it too much, but with these kids around, the prince shouldn’t scold people easily, right?

Entering Shengde Hall, everyone saw Xiao Zhixing behind the throne.

The prince's throne, with a four-clawed golden dragon entwined around it, made her majestic features look even more awe-inspiring, making people dare not look at her directly.

"Everyone, I invited you here because I want to discuss how to solve the problem of the empty treasury."

After they bowed and sat down, Xiao Zhixing got straight to the point, "Duke Li, do you have any rules?"

Li Guogong said: "Increase income or reduce expenditure. The latter cannot be reduced. The only way is to increase income."

The court had expenses everywhere. In recent years, even the year-end bonuses for officials had been saved, and the harem was also tightening its belt. He racked his brains to save a little.

A drop in the bucket.

Xiao Zhixing immediately knew that he had an idea, "Open source? Where to start?"

Duke Li coughed, his voice slightly weaker, and he boldly said, "Um, Haiyan, Your Highness, what do you think?"

The implication is that you are about to become the emperor, and it would be unreasonable for you to hold on to such a big golden egg and not hand it over to the court.

Xiao Zhixing laughed, "How long has Duke Li been keeping an eye on Haiyan?"

Duke Li laughed dryly, "Not long..."

Xiao Zhixing nodded and said, "The salt tax from the sea salt can be collected by the national treasury. As for the operation, I plan to hand it over to Dasheng Commercial Bank."

That is to say, Beizhou Commercial Bank was upgraded to Dasheng Commercial Bank, officially becoming a state-owned group and beginning to exercise macro-control capabilities.

In the Northern Province, the trading company has already demonstrated its effectiveness, and anyone with eyes can see its power.

Duke Li was overjoyed when he heard this, "Your Highness is wise!!"

With the sea salt tax, he finally had hope of enriching the national treasury!

Xiao Zhixing laughed, "Are you satisfied with just this little bit of money?"

She asked Li Wenxiu, who was standing behind Li Guogong, "Tell me, what other ways are there to increase revenue?"

Li Wenxiu is now a fourth-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue, directly serving Duke Li. Hearing this, he was not at all nervous, and counted on his fingers, saying, "Collect business taxes, encourage commerce, control prices, invigorate the economy, open workshops, stabilize employment, stimulate trade, and open up operations..."

As for the details, they are all in the business textbooks of the North State College.

Xiao Zhixing smiled, "Okay, Ah Xiu, write a detailed memorial and then go find Ning Jin to tell him in detail about the upgrade of Beizhou Commercial Bank."

The memorial was for the emperor and old ministers to see, and she directly handed the matter of upgrading the business to Li Ningxiu.

After being with me for so long, it’s time for this girl to become a master.

Li Ningxiu was eager to try and immediately accepted the task, "Yes!"

Li Xiao's hand stroking his beard paused slightly. It was okay. The child wanted to struggle and his superiors trusted him, so he didn't need to say anything more.

Xiao Zhixing took out another memorial and said, "This is a memorial summarizing agricultural taxes from various places. Everyone, please take a look."

Li Xiao was the first to take it. When he found out that the reporter was Lin Muzhen, he put aside his casualness and read it carefully.

Xiao Zhixing said: "Agricultural tax has been the main tax of the country since ancient times, and it has placed a heavy burden on our people. Whenever there is a disaster, poor harvest, and hardship on the people, agricultural tax will be greatly reduced, which will eventually cause unrest in the country. If there are a few incompetent officials, they will impose heavy taxes and it is not uncommon for officials to oppress the people."

Everyone looked through the memorials one by one and listened to her speak.

"In the past two years, due to internal and external troubles, agricultural taxes have dropped sharply, which is also a reason for the treasury to be empty. Your Majesty insists on not increasing taxes and fees, which is a mercy. However, as a model for the people, we must find a way to stabilize the government and enrich the treasury, so as to share the worries of Your Majesty and the world."

Zhao Kun pondered, "What does your highness mean?"

"The agricultural tax will no longer increase, but it needs to be changed. You can ask the officials below to ask the local nobles and rich farmers. I will give them half a year to consider. Either increase the agricultural tax or distribute the tax according to the amount of land."

Beizhou adopted a multi-pronged approach. First, it increased grain production to enrich the people's warehouses. The newly opened fields were state-owned and the sale was prohibited.

The old land gave them two options.

Either they continue to farm by paying taxes per person, but the taxes have to be increased, or they obediently pay the lowest tax rate based on the number of acres of land.

This kind of psychological warfare of choosing between two options easily made the profit-seeking wealthy and powerful families choose the latter.

Of course, the most important thing is the power of Beizhou’s military farms and new grain varieties. They keenly discovered that the Beizhou officials are not threatened by you at all.

The common people would rather cultivate new land and enjoy the new policies than plant your land.

Therefore, Beizhou and the other three states gradually completed the reform of allocating land tax to each state.

"I will not force them. Let them find out about the various policies of the Northern Province. Now the Agricultural Department will promote new grain varieties and military farming policies throughout the country. They will decide for themselves what the final result will be."