Princess, he is rich enough to rival the country

It is not easy for ordinary people to look at the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts.

Even if Gu Yanshu is Princess Li, it is the same.

Originally, Gu Yanshu thought that the matter was of great importance at this time, and Wen Qingxiao could not reply immediately.

Who knew that within two days, Wen Qingxiao sent someone to send a letter, saying that he had asked Wen Qingyan, and Wen Qingyan finally agreed to Gu Yanshu's request. If Gu Yanshu was free, he could go directly to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Although I was a little surprised by Wen Qingyan's final reply, after thinking about it for a while, I felt that it made sense.

Now that the household department is under a lot of pressure, Wen Qingyan is under pressure, and it is normal to want to break the situation as soon as possible.

It just so happened that Gu Yanshu was free during this time, and Qin Lu was also busy with official duties, so he didn't have time to play around with him.

On the second day after receiving Wen Qingxiao's reply, Gu Yanshu packed up and went to the household department.

A few months have passed, and the household department has not changed much from the last time Gu Yanshu came.

It's just that the officials in the household department seem to have changed a lot.

Gu Yanshu thought that his memory was pretty good, but now that he glanced over, almost all the faces he could see were unfamiliar faces.

"After the government of Ningguo was disposed of, many officials in the household department were implicated. It is true that many people have changed these days."

Wen Qingyan saw what Gu Yanshu was thinking at a glance, and explained in a low voice.

"I see."

Gu Yanshu nodded slightly, a flash of understanding flashed across his eyes.

This household department was in the hands of the First Prince before, and its internal staff are naturally all people from the First Prince's lineage.

The First Prince and Ningguo's government have always had close contacts, and there are many overlaps in their contacts. It is not surprising that the household department has been affected.

But for the current Gu Yanshu, whether it is Ningguo Duke's Mansion or the First Prince, there is nothing special to pay attention to.

Therefore, after mentioning a few sentences, Gu Yanshu directly focused on the key points of his visit to the household department this time:

"The Sixth Young Master told this hall that Mr. Wen can make the decision and show this hall the accounts of the household department over the years?"

"Ah."

Wen Qingyan nodded slightly, and then said:

"Recently, a lot of people have been changed in the household department, and they happened to be sorting out the accounts. I heard from Qing Xiao that there is a method of bookkeeping called double-entry bookkeeping in the hands of His Highness. The accounts recorded are more clear and clear. I hope His Highness can give some pointers." One or two."

Since Gu Yanshu took out the double-entry bookkeeping method, he has not hidden it from it.

The newspaper office is also using double-entry bookkeeping. Gu Yanshu is convinced that according to Wen Qingxiao's intelligence, he should have learned the method of double-entry bookkeeping after being in charge of the newspaper office for so long.

If Wen Qingyan really wanted to learn this double-entry bookkeeping, he could ask Wen Qingxiao.

Talking to him now is just to give a reason for handing over the accounts of the account department to Gu Yanshu.

Gu Yanshu is a smart person, and he can almost hear Wen Qingyan's subtext.

Immediately, he exchanged a look of mutual understanding with Wen Qingyan:

"Since Mr. Wen has spoken, there is no reason for this hall to hide its secrets."

But what Wen Qingyan said just now was not wrong.

Recently, the Ministry of Accounting has changed a lot of people. In order to let the newly appointed officials know the situation of the Ministry of Accounting and the treasury as soon as possible, the people in the Ministry of Accounting are indeed sorting out the accounts of previous years these days.

This is also convenient for Gu Yanshu to check now.

Gu Yanshu first looked at the account books of the Ministry of Accounting this year.

It has to be said that because of the cement road, the performance of the household department this year can be said to be very good.

Gu Yanshu can see the joy of the household officials this year just by looking at the data recorded in the account book, how much it has increased compared to previous years.

Because of Wen Qingyan's relationship with this year's accounts, it seems that there is no big problem. Gu Yanshu just flipped through it a little, then put it down, and picked up the previous years' account books from the household department.

It is said that there is no harm if there is no comparison. It can be said that it is very suitable to describe the account books that Gu Yanshu sees now.

After flipping through two pages, Gu Yanshu felt that the former Hubu Shangshu was not wronged by him and Wen Qingyan.

As far as the accounts are messed up, there are still many things that are unclear.

Gu Yanshu just glanced at it roughly, and he could see that about one-third of the money was a mystery.

The disgust on Gu Yanshu's face was very obvious, and it was difficult for Wen Qingyan to ignore it, so Wen Qingyan could only cough, and then said in a low voice:

"Cough... the accounts of previous years are indeed quite chaotic. The subordinate officials have already ordered someone to reorganize them. It's just that the time is a little rushed and the results have not yet been produced."

"The issues left over from history have nothing to do with Mr. Wen. Mr. Wen doesn't have to be so concerned."

Gu Yanshu also knew that the confusion in the accounts had nothing to do with Wen Qingyan, so he just waved his hand slightly to let Wen Qingyan not take it to heart.

Then he took out a few account books and looked through them roughly.

Although the previous accounts were very chaotic, Gu Yanshu still extracted a lot of useful information from them.

For example, today's tax system.

Like other countries, before Wen Qingyan proposed "open source", the main source of income for Tianqi treasury was the treasury.

In addition to the taxes and fees generated between merchants and merchants, the biggest source of income is the poll tax from the common people.

Seeing this, Gu Yanshu frowned subconsciously, disapproval flashed across his face.

Although it was just a fleeting emotion, it was also captured by Wen Qingyan at the side:

"Your Highness already has an idea?"

"I already have an idea, but I'm afraid it will not be easy to implement."

Gu Yanshu put down the account book in his hand, a rare hesitation appeared on his face.

He seemed to be thinking about whether he should speak out what was in his heart.

Wen Qingyan also understood Gu Yanshu's temperament, knowing that it would be more difficult than imagined to get Gu Yanshu to say "it's not easy to implement".

But now, Wen Qingyan had no other choice, otherwise he would not have asked Gu Yanshu for help when Prince Li's mansion had fallen out with the emperor.

After thinking for a while, Wen Qingyan still decided to listen to Gu Yanshu's idea before making a decision:

"Your Highness, it's okay to say."

Gu Yanshu glanced at Wen Qingyan, met his firm expression, tapped the account book on the table with his fingers, and said slowly:

"The method of this hall...spread into the mu."

"Everything goes into the mu?"

Wen Qingyan repeated the four words Gu Yanshu said in a low voice, a trace of bewilderment flashed across his eyes, and then he fell into deep thought.

"That's right, every single person is divided into acres. Our hall just took a look and found that the most important source of tax revenue today is the poll tax collected from the common people. However, this tax system has many drawbacks."

Seeing the bewilderment on Wen Qingyan's face, Gu Yanshu paused for a moment, then directly opened his mouth and explained to Wen Qingyan:

"People who are poor in the family will not dare to have children because of the poll tax, and will also conceal the actual number of people in the family because of the poll tax. The more children there are, the greater the burden will be on the family, and the people will become less and less prosperous. Dare to give birth, and finally create a vicious circle.”

"The method of this temple is to cancel the poll tax and collect taxes according to the amount of land in people's hands, so that poor people can pay less tax or even no tax, while rich people can pay more. fair."

Spread into acres.

This policy was officially implemented by Emperor Yongzheng in later generations.

After the implementation of the policy of apportioning the income per mu, the tax revenue of the Qing Dynasty had been significantly increased, and at the same time, the population of the Qing Dynasty had also increased significantly.

In addition, the policy of distributing the income per mu is also an effective restraint on land mergers.

In addition, canceling the poll tax and changing it to land-based collection can not only simplify the taxation procedures, but also reduce the loss of manpower and financial resources when collecting taxes and fees.

But how can it be easy to change the tax system?

Not to mention anything else, let's just say that there are several generations of emperors in Qi Lijing today, stretching for more than a hundred years. During this period, the nobles rose and fell, and countless nobles rose.

There are countless forces entrenched in the capital, and most of those who hold wealth in their hands have the same status and power as wealth.

It is not only as simple as abolishing the poll tax, but also a great provocation to the powerful.

The more you have, the more taxes you pay. This is undoubtedly a cake in the hands of nobles and wealthy businessmen. If you want to implement it, you can imagine the obstacles.

If it is enforced, it is very likely that the landlords and aristocrats will forcefully pass on the increased cost of taxation to the poor peasants.

The imperial court increased the taxes of the landlords and nobles according to the number of fields. If the cost of the land was high, the landlords and nobles simply raised the price of grain, or further squeezed the poor peasants and lowered their wages.

In the end, the tax revenue of the imperial court increased, the landlords and noble families made a lot of money, and the life of ordinary people became even more difficult.

Such a result is not Gu Yanshu's imagination, but one of the consequences caused by the Qing government's vigorous promotion of the allocation of land to the mu in history.

After experiencing the end of the world, although Gu Yanshu loves money, he still retains the idea of ​​"all human beings can only be well if everyone is well".

Therefore, such a result is not in line with Gu Yanshu's original intention of the policy of "spending the household into the mu".

Even if it weren't for the fact that several sweet potato test fields have been opened up in Nancheng, and if it goes well, Tianqi's grain production will have a qualitative increase next year, and Gu Yanshu might not have mentioned the words "spreading into mu" at all. .

Although in Gu Yanshu's eyes, there are all kinds of disadvantages in living in a family, but to Wen Qingyan, these four words are like a thunder on the ground, directly opening up his thoughts:

Before Gu Yanshu put forward the words "split households into mu", Wen Qingyan had already noticed the various disadvantages of the poll tax implemented by Qi today.

Although the emperor is kind, even though the national treasury has been difficult these years, he has not ordered to increase taxes. However, Tianqi was in war all the year round, and ordinary people were already very poor. Even if taxes were not increased, it was still a fortune for the people. No small burden.

Wen Qingyan also thought about changing this situation, but couldn't think of a suitable solution.

Up to this moment, Gu Yanshu's proposal that "the people who have no money and no land pay no tax, and those who have money and land pay more tax" was proposed by Gu Yanshu, which immediately pointed out the direction for Wen Qingyan like a lighthouse in the vast sea.

But after a moment of excitement, Wen Qingyan calmed down again, and soon thought of the difficulties and consequences he would face if he wanted to implement this policy.

After thinking for a while, Wen Qingyan looked up at Gu Yanshu:

"I don't know if His Highness can talk to the lower officials in detail about the details of this stall?"

According to Gu Yanshu's previous habit, if he made a proposal, he would also come up with an implementable plan or report at the same time, so Wen Qingyan had this question.

And Gu Yanshu also did not disappoint Wen Qingyan, and immediately understood what Wen Qingyan meant:

"How about this, after I return to the mansion, I will write a detailed plan first, and send someone to send it to Mr. Wen. After Mr. Wen has read it, if you have any questions, come to the hall again?"

"In that case, I would like to thank Your Highness here first."

Wen Qingyan was not polite to Gu Yanshu either, and directly thanked Gu Yanshu, accepting Gu Yanshu's kindness.

In the following time, Gu Yanshu and Wen Qingyan had a brief conversation, then got up and left the household department.

I don't know if it was Gu Yanshu's illusion, but when he left the household department, he always felt that someone behind him was watching him.

But when he turned around and looked back, he saw nothing.

Turning to ask Zhi Ge, after getting an answer that was not unusual, Gu Yanshu simply put the matter behind him.

Gu Yanshu has always been vigorous and resolute in his work, and he didn't delay after returning to the mansion. He directly wrote down the specific plan and various disadvantages of the stalls into the mu, and sent them to Wen Qingyan.

From Gu Yanshu's point of view, this incident was just a small favor for Wen Qingyan.

However, what Gu Yanshu didn't know was that not long after Wen Qingyan received the proposal from him, he received an imperial edict from the emperor in the palace calling him for an audience, and went to the palace.