The first poisonous scholar in Daxia, starting from the abdication of the prime minister

Chapter 303: The Case That Killed the Prime Minister...

"My Lord, this is Ningzhou's tax certificate for this year. The grain tax and tax silver have already been sent to the capital. I'd like to trouble you to take this document to the Ministry of Revenue!"

Wu Xiang came to Gu Jingzhi with a document.

Gu Jingzhi frowned and asked, "Why wasn't this document sent to the capital along with the escort team?"

"Hey! I was originally thinking of sending them together, but the court has issued an order to transfer you to the capital. This is the first time you have paid taxes to the court since you took office in Ningzhou. I thought, at least I must show you the achievements of Ningzhou in the past two years!"

"..."

"When did you start doing these nonsense things..."

Gu Jingzhi cursed with a smile.

However, this is also the wish of his subordinates. He has been in charge of Ningzhou for two years. The court exempted taxes last year, but they have to be paid this year.

After two years of development, Ningzhou's agricultural products are not inferior to any other prefectures, and the commercial tax figures are even more impressive. Gu Jingzhi resigned from the post of Ningzhou prefect and personally handed in the grain tax documents for that year, which also increased his reputation in the capital.

Therefore, he did not refuse. After taking the document, he opened it and said, "Ningzhou depends on you. The achievements we have made in the past two years are not easy. You must be careful and cautious in your future administration and must not ruin Ningzhou's prosperity... Huh?"

Gu Jingzhi was halfway through his words when he saw that the document was empty... except for a red seal... which was the seal of the Ningzhou prefect.

“Why is there only an empty seal on it?”

"???"

Wu Xiang was also confused for a moment, then remembered that this was also the first time his master had paid taxes to the court. He immediately laughed and said, "My Lord, this is not it... the taxes we pay are bound to be lost all the way to the capital. The money is fine, but the grain has been lost a lot along the way. If I write down the amount now, it will definitely not add up when we get to the capital..."

"So, you're going to use this method?"

Gu Jingzhi's expression showed no emotion, so Wu Xiang didn't think much about it and just said, "This is also what the capital meant a few years ago. Besides, after this measure is implemented, it will save us a lot of trouble!"

However, from his words, Gu Jingzhi was reminded of the bloody case of the empty seal in history in his own life!

The Hongwu Emperor therefore raised his butcher knife and directly destroyed the prime minister system that had influenced the Celestial Empire for thousands of years!

I didn't expect that when I traveled to a completely different world, such a situation would exist.

Blank case!

That was the Empty Seal Case, a case in which tens of thousands of people died and the prime minister system was destroyed.

Wu Xiang didn't know what Gu Jingzhi was thinking, and continued speaking.

"Please rest assured, my Lord. The taxes paid by Ningzhou, while not the highest among the Great Xia Prefectures, are definitely among the top few. There won't be any discrepancies in the amount."

"Since the implementation of this law, except for those who fail to meet the amount required by the court, in most cases, there is no need to pay back taxes. After all, as long as there is no collection deficit, the tax paid by each state exceeds the court's regulations!"

"Has this measure been issued by the imperial court?"

Gu Jingzhi directly asked the doubts in his heart.

However, Wu Xiang shook his head: "No order has ever been issued! But this was all communicated by the superiors. At first, everyone was worried, but the superiors insisted, and since no problems arose, it became a routine!"

Convention...

After hearing this, Gu Jingzhi felt a chill in his heart.

This method can indeed save a lot of trouble, but it is like an imperial edict with a seal but no content written on it. The place is so far away from the capital, so can't those people in the capital write whatever they want?

Just make sure there are no problems between the state capitals.

However, will this cause problems?

Basically not!

Wu Xiang just said that in this matter, except for poor places like Ningzhou, which were unable to pay full taxes every year, other provinces could pay enough taxes as long as they did not encounter years of poor harvest.

In most cases, there are even a lot more.

The grain tax in Daxia alone was one in thirty, which was relatively low among all dynasties. However, the imperial court encouraged farming, so it often set a minimum standard.

As long as it reaches this standard line, the place is considered qualified. This actually takes into account the local poor harvest and losses.

However, natural disasters do not occur every year, so the people almost always pay taxes in full. However, the gap between the actual tax and the minimum tax gives some people enough room to manipulate.

In this way, it evolved into today's empty stamp taxation!

It cannot be said that there is definitely a problem with paying taxes with an empty stamp. However, as long as officials are motivated, there is a lot of room for maneuver.

Don’t those officials understand the reason?

Of course it is clear, otherwise the empty seal would not appear.

The reason why there have been no problems for so long is actually very simple. Although some people are greedy, they are not stupid enough to cause problems.

As long as the local taxes were confirmed to be in full in the records of the Ministry of Revenue, local officials would not know how much of their taxes actually went into the national treasury.

In this way, if the top is good and the bottom is good, the problem will naturally disappear!

Wu Xiang saw that Gu Jingzhi had stopped talking since he received the document, so he couldn't help but ask curiously, "My Lord, is there any problem?"

"what?"

Gu Jingzhi suddenly came to his senses and quickly said, "No, I just thought of something else!"

He closed the document and said, "I've accepted this. I'll tell my colleagues in Ningzhou that I appreciate their kindness and ask them to keep working hard. When they are promoted to the capital in the future, I'll welcome them!"

"okay!"

Wu Xiang immediately smiled and said, "Then I, your humble servant, would like to thank you on behalf of all my colleagues!"

With such achievements made by Ningzhou, the promotion of Ningzhou officials is inevitable, but it is not known whether they will be promoted to serve as officials in the capital or somewhere else in the future.

However, Gu Jingzhi promised today that when they arrive in the capital, they will have a backer.

Seeing him like this, Gu Jingzhi just smiled and put away the document: "Now that the court has appointed you as the prefect, the affairs of Ningzhou will be in your hands. I won't be leaving for another two days. If you have any questions during these two days, just come and ask me!"

Wu Xiang was naturally delighted to hear this!

After he left, Gu Jingzhi just sat there in a daze without saying a word, his mind constantly thinking about things, and he didn't even notice Chen Yu coming.

Chen Yu called out several times before Gu Jingzhi finally reacted. He suddenly realized that it was Chen Yu and asked immediately, "What's wrong?"

Chen Yu asked curiously, "My husband, are you worried about something? I called you several times but you didn't answer!"

"Ow!"

Gu Jingzhi smiled and said, "No, I was just thinking about returning to Beijing soon and thinking about things in the capital!"

"Oh!"

Chen Yu nodded and said, "I just happened to have something to discuss with my husband!"

"Oh? What's the matter?"

"..."