Chapter 117: Scapegoat No. can’t sit idle either!

Huh?
That’s an idea!

When he got home, he bought a plow and studied it.

If this thing is really accomplished, maybe...

The Third Prince's eyes lit up, and the words on his lips suddenly changed, his attitude took a 180-degree turn:

"Fifth sister is indeed very discerning. Third brother will not let fifth sister down!"

"Then I will wait for good news from my third brother."

Yun Shu smiled and sent the Third Prince away again, then he sighed.

It’s a pity that Master Ye’s rank is too low and he was unable to attend the palace banquet today.

Otherwise, she could gather three scapegoats and completely liberate herself!
However...just because Master Ye can't enter the palace these days doesn't mean that the princess can't leave the palace!
As a student, it's only normal to take advantage of the New Year holiday to visit the Grand Tutor's residence, right?
During the seven-day New Year holiday, she went to visit early, which gave Master Ye a few more days to think seriously.

perfect!

Yun Shu did what he said. Early in the morning on the second day of the New Year, he had someone prepare several impeccable New Year gifts and went out of the palace in a horse-drawn carriage.

Perhaps it was because Master Ye came from a poor family and was still young.

Even though he still held the honorary title of Grand Tutor to the Fifth Princess and the Sixth Prince, the gate of the Ye Mansion was still deserted early in the morning.

When Yun Shu's newly ordered carriage stopped in front of the Ye Mansion, the servant who was sweeping the snow in front of the door was obviously stunned for a moment, and then hesitantly came forward:

"May I ask if it is ..."

"Hurry up and tell your master that Princess Saint Ann has arrived!"

Tingxue lifted the curtain and handed over a sign. After the servant took it with both hands, he was so frightened when he heard that the princess had arrived that he even forgot to perform the formalities. He threw away the broom and turned around to run back to the mansion.

"Eh……"

Tingxue called out again from behind, but the man didn't hear her, so he had no choice but to let down the curtain and complained in a low voice:
"Why does this boy look so dull?"

"Maybe I'm not used to it yet."

Yun Shu waved his hand nonchalantly, opened the door curtain and got off the carriage.

Not long after, Ye Qing'an came out in a hurry, but after he stood in front of Yun Shu, he saluted slowly and gracefully, like a gentleman:

"I didn't know that Her Royal Highness was coming. I am sorry for not coming to greet you. I hope Your Highness will forgive me!"

"Taifu, please stop being polite. How can a student come to visit the master and ask the master to wait outside the door in advance?"

It is already very unfair to recruit people to work during the holiday. If she is any more impolite, she will feel guilty even when she falls asleep in the middle of the night!
He immediately had the gifts taken off the carriage.

Yun Shu didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point:

"To be honest, I came here today not only to give you a New Year gift, but also to have some questions. I hope you can answer them for me."

She deliberately used the word "student" to refer to herself. Upon hearing this, Ye Qing'an did not continue with the empty formalities. He directly invited her to the main house and personally poured her a cup of tea:
"I wonder what's confusing the princess?"

"Master Ye, you may not know that at the New Year's Eve palace banquet two days ago, I promised in front of my father and the ministers that I would find a way to solve the problem of reclaiming wasteland.

Now I have handed over the problem of diverting water to my sixth brother.

I also handed the problem of insufficient oxen to my third brother to solve. As for taxation... let's not talk about that for now. The most troublesome issue now is the issue of land annexation."

Yun Shu held the teacup in both hands, looking worried, as if he was really stumped:
"Master, why do you think the problem of land annexation is so serious?"

“There are many reasons for this.”

During the New Year, even the Capital Weekly took a break. Ye Qingan stayed at home for the past two days and did not interact with other colleagues in the court. He naturally did not know that Her Royal Highness the Princess could take on such a big job in the time it took to eat.
While Ye Qing'an secretly sighed in his heart that the princess was indeed a skilled and courageous person, he carefully explained the reason for this problem to Yun Shu:

“The first and most fundamental reason is definitely the prevalence of private land ownership and land transactions.

Secondly, taxation is also one of the important reasons for the emergence of this problem.

Tiansheng currently collects two main types of taxes from farmers: one is land tax, which is a tax levied on the basis of the acreage of land;

The other is the poll tax, which is a tax levied based on the number of people.

There is no way for the latter, because as long as you are alive, you have to pay taxes.
But there is room for maneuver in the former.

Princess, think about this: if there is a disaster year, the harvest from the fields cannot even cover the taxes to be paid, and your family is already too poor to afford food,
There are noble families, landlords and gentry who want to buy the land you have that needs to pay taxes. Will you sell it or not? "

"Sell it."

Yun Shu nodded as he said:
"If I don't sell it, I won't be able to survive. If I sell it, even if I don't get much money, at least I can pay less tax."

"Yes."

Ye Qingan sighed softly:
“So, at times like this, many aristocratic families would acquire land from farmers at extremely low prices.

What's worse, some people even create disasters artificially and seize the land from farmers.
This is land annexation.”

"The bureaucrats and gentry do not have to pay taxes, and the wealthy and powerful families who have children serving as officials in the court are also exempt from agricultural taxes, so they can annex those fertile fields without any scruples."

Yun Shu held her cheek thoughtfully:
"Then if we ask them to pay taxes, can we solve this problem?"

"In theory, it might be useful."

Ye Qing paused for a moment, as if thinking about the feasibility of this problem.
But after a long time, he still shook his head regretfully:

"Princess, do you know why no one in the court has ever proposed this before?"

"Because they are also vested interests!"

This question was too simple, Yun Shu said without thinking:

"Just like I would not suggest that you, the Grand Tutor, give me more homework, those ministers would not take the initiative to ask for taxes."

"That's what the princess said."

Hearing her use the homework as an analogy, Ye Qingan couldn't help but laugh, and continued along with the example she gave:

"Then if His Highness the Sixth Prince suddenly stood up and said that he hoped I could give you an extra assignment of copying a book three times every day, would the princess agree?"

"No, I will just beat up Sixth Brother and make him shut up!"

Yun Shu said, "suddenly realizing":

"Taifu, what you mean is that if someone really brings up this matter, they will definitely be killed by the other ministers in the court?"