Chapter 118 Princess Sheng An is indeed the lucky star of the Tiansheng Dynasty!
"more or less."

Ye Qingan nodded, his expression slightly solemn:
“You should know that the exemption of agricultural taxes for officials has been popular for thousands of years, and people all over the world regard it as an honor for scholars.

There are even many children from poor families who study hard for decades just for this real honor.

If it is abolished one day, it may even lead to a sharp decrease in the number of poor scholars.”

"So, after all, it is impossible to ask these noble families to pay agricultural taxes?"

Yun Shu held his face in distress, his brows furrowed:

"What should we do? Try to come up with a new tax for them to pay?"

Ok?
Yun Shu's words seemed to be just "unintentional words", but when Ye Qing'an heard them, he was startled.

Yes, it is indeed difficult to change the situation if officials do not pay agricultural taxes.

But if a new tax could be promulgated, and it was stated from the outset that even the royal family could not be exempted... then wouldn't those aristocratic families have no choice but to pay it obediently?
But...what is the tax that the wealthy and powerful families have to pay but farmers don't have to pay, and which can also curb land annexation to a certain extent?

Land annexation...

Ye Qing'an always felt that he was only one step away from grasping the key, but he just couldn't take this step!
"The noble families want so much land just to grow more food.

But they certainly can’t eat all the food themselves, so most of it will be sold.”

Just when Ye Qingan felt that his thoughts had reached a deadlock, he heard Yun Shu muttering to himself:
"There is never a shortage of food. The more land they acquire, the more they can sell. The more they sell, the more they earn. The more they earn, the more land they want to acquire... It's a vicious cycle!"

Sell ​​food, make money...commercial taxes!
Ye Qingan's thoughts were suddenly opened up.

Yup!

Isn't this the tax that farmers don't have to pay but wealthy and prominent families must pay?

Today, there are commercial taxes in the prosperous dynasty, but they are not much, only the transit tax, the sitting tax, and the door tax.
That is to say, in addition to the taxes that caravans had to pay when passing through certain checkpoints,
All that's left is the stall fees for setting up stalls or opening shops in certain fixed locations in the city, and the entry fees based on the price of the goods when entering certain cities.

Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, why are merchants ranked last?
Isn’t it because businessmen are often seen as representatives of profit-seeking and opportunism?
Merchants don’t do any production, but they can live a life of luxury, make so much money, and don’t have to pay much tax!

Farmers work all day long, but can only afford simple meals and barely make ends meet, and they have to squeeze out half of their income to pay agricultural taxes...

This is not morally right!
Commercial taxes must be arranged!
The more Ye Qing'an thought about it, the clearer his thoughts became. If he was not still on leave, he would have immediately asked someone to prepare a carriage and go directly to the palace to meet the emperor!

Princess Saint Ann is indeed the lucky star of the Tiansheng Dynasty!
Ye Qing'an, who was overwhelmed with emotion but could not enter the palace immediately, looked at Yun Shu with burning eyes.

The latter is so guilty——

Could it be that she said it too obviously and got discovered?
No, it would be a shame if her talent was discovered so early.
The emperor must bring her directly to the court and make her work for him every day!

She doesn't want it!

Yun Shu silently put down his hand that was supporting his chin, with an innocent look on his face:
"Why is Master Ye looking at me like this?"

Ye Qingan suddenly jumped from "I" to "this palace" and realized that his eyes were indeed a little too enthusiastic.

A rare look of embarrassment appeared on his handsome face, but he quickly brushed it off lightly:
"I just think that the princess is really smart."

"I am indeed a little smarter than ordinary people."

Yun Shu raised his chin proudly:

"But Master, there's no need to bring this up so suddenly. It's embarrassing."

Well, the arrogant little princess, smart but with a hint of stupidity,
Take advantage!

Master Ye shouldn't doubt her anymore, right? Yun Shu blinked.

Although she had the insights of later generations, she was indeed far superior to the ancients in some specific aspects.

But this cannot erase the fact that she is essentially just a simple female college student who has just entered the society (the wealthy version of becoming rich overnight and worth billions).

It is impossible to say that it is not false to perform such a somewhat deliberate act in front of Ye Qing'an, a gifted man of heaven who can enter the court at a young age.

I thought I had said everything I should have said, and if I stayed any longer I didn't know if I would accidentally say something I shouldn't have said.

Yun Shu simply stood up:
"I have bothered you for a long time today. I will continue to think hard about how to curb land annexation after I return.

If Master Ye can help me out when he is free, I will be very grateful to him!"

This palace, the student, the transformation of self-proclaimed is considered to be figured out by her.

……

Here, Yun Shu successfully fooled the scapegoat number one, got back on the carriage, and returned to the palace without any trouble.

On the other side, in Yaohua Palace,

Yun Chuhuan, however, has been squatting by the pool for three consecutive days whenever he has free time, worrying about the pool that has already formed a thin layer of ice.

The fifth sister asked him to find a way to divert the water from Yaohua Palace to Fengyang Palace. He thought the most difficult part would be the transportation over such a long distance between the two palaces.
But I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t be able to reach that step at all, and I was stuck at the starting point!

"Xiao Anzi, do you think it is really impossible for this water to flow from the bottom to the top?"

"It shouldn't be possible, right?"

This is the third time Xiao Anzi has answered this question:

"Anyway, I have never seen water flowing like that."

"But the water in this pool is already lower than the edge of the pool!"

Yun Chuhuan scratched his head in frustration:

"It's impossible for me to just have people dig this pond all the way to Fifth Sister's Fengyang Palace, right?
Fifth sister said that there should be no fuss!

Besides, digging through a pond might work here, but it is definitely not a good way to solve the problem of land reclamation!"

"How about I go and get Xiao Dezi, Xiao Yuanzi and the others to come over as well?"

Xiao Anzi cautiously gave advice:

"Although we are very stupid and certainly cannot be compared with your intelligence and wisdom, Your Highness, if we all get together and have more people offer suggestions, maybe we can really bring you some useful methods?"

"also!"

Yun Chuhuan frowned and continued to stare at the pond worriedly:

"Go and call all of them to come to me, the prince.
Just say... just say that if anyone can come up with a useful method, this prince will reward them with 100 taels of silver!"

"Yes!"

When Xiao Anzi heard that the reward was one hundred taels of silver, his eyes lit up and he quickly trotted off to get the money.

(End of this chapter)