Guan Ning once took a rotation in the Household Department, and after he came to the throne, he asked Xue Qing to sort out the accounts of the Household Transfer Department and read them in detail.

He discovered a problem.

The south was originally a place of economic prosperity, with both farming and commerce developing extremely well. The finances of a certain government might be greater than that of a state in the north, but in fact, most of the court's tax revenues came from the north.

This is also the reason why Dakang’s treasury had no money and no food in the later period.

In fact, from the beginning of the war, Emperor Longjing sent people to the south to collect food. It was not until the end of the war that the food was collected, and the result was that it had not yet arrived... This is enough to explain some problems.

"Tell me about it."

Guan Ning asked with great interest.

"yes."

Qian Dafu said: "Since I followed you, I am no longer a pure businessman, and I have paid more attention to this aspect."

"In the south, the gentry and businessmen are one."

He said solemnly: "National taxation mainly comes from land. The land in the south is fertile, has abundant water conservancy, and has good output. Sometimes the two states have a good harvest, and the world is full of food. However, land annexation there is serious, and many private farmlands have been collected by landlords and gentry.

Under my own name."

Guan Ning nodded.

When a dynasty comes to an end, this situation is inevitable.

Take the land in the suburbs of Beijing as an example. Many private fields have been seized by those relatives.

This is land annexation.

The gap in identity and status leaves ordinary people with no recourse.

They also resorted to every possible means to take away the land, and the people were forced to rent land and became tenant farmers.

This situation also exists in the South, but the main subjects have become landlords and country gentry.

Qian Dafu continued: "Landlords and squires have to pay taxes when they own land, but they have a way, or through a loophole in the law, to avoid taxes reasonably!"

"Under the laws of Dakang, scholars with great reputations have privileges, one of which is exemption from taxes and corvee!"

Guan Ning's face darkened slightly.

In fact, this law was not only found in Dakang, but also in Wei and Liang.

In the feudal dynasty, in order to gain the support of more talents, the rulers gave this privilege to scholars.

Why is it said that all things are inferior but reading is superior?

This is the main reason.

If you are good at learning, you will become an official. If you gain a reputation, you will not need to pay for it.

This seemed to be a good thing, but as time went by and the number of scholars increased, problems arose.

This is the reason why the gentry was formed. This privilege created the gentry class and allowed self-made scholars to become landlords.

These landlords attached their land to the names of these famous scholars, enjoyed this cost-free private property, and then trained scholars, thus forming a gentry and gaining lasting economic strength.

A closed loop of rights was formed: study, become an official, landowner, gentry, country squire, study.

The most important thing is that they don’t have to pay taxes!

Although he is a wealthy person, he does not have to pay taxes and his wealth is only in his own hands.

Qian Dafu did not continue to elaborate on this matter. He knew that Guan Ning also understood the twists and turns involved.

He continued: "Due to the special region and stable environment, commerce in the south is more developed than in the north. Due to their low status, merchants grouped together to form business gangs. When they developed to a certain level, these business gangs became like the gentry.

They also colluded together, the nobles received financial support from the merchant gangs, and the merchant gangs received the political support from the nobles!"

Guan Ning has heard Xue Huairen talk about this situation in detail.

It is also an interest group, the more famous Qingliu Party.

Whenever the imperial court decided to collect commercial taxes, these people would stop it with the slogan that they could not compete with the people for profit.

The resistance is too great and it is always difficult to implement.

Qian Dafu said solemnly: "So, the gentry and merchants are one and the same. This is the main reason why the court has never been able to collect this part of the tax."

It's actually very simple.

They colluded together and used their respective identities to form a huge interest group.

Among them, those who played a key role were the gentry, the so-called scholars.

The bottom line is that those in power do not dare to offend scholars, and since their privileges are gone, they will naturally try their best to protect them and think that their rights have been violated.

But for the country, this is a huge problem.

Unable to get tax revenue from them, they could only continue to squeeze the people, which eventually caused a backlash, caused a peasant uprising, and led to the collapse of the dynasty...

Qian Dafu looked at Guan Ning's slightly condensed expression and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult for Your Majesty to change this situation. There was an emperor in Dakang who also wanted to implement reforms, but it aroused great resistance and many candidates from several states abandoned the exam on a large scale.

After taking the exam, in the end we can only compromise and end without any problem..."

"That has to change too!"

Guan Ning said coldly: "No matter how much trouble the scholars make, what will it do? Don't they still want to be fed by the imperial court?"

"The situation is different for the poor people. After all, the food of the imperial court is provided by these poor people. If these people are alienated from the dynasty, then the dynasty will definitely not last long."

Guan Ning can still understand this problem.

Now it seems that it is urgent to deal with the affairs in the south!

He announced at the court meeting that commercial taxes would be levied on Dakang Liangzhuang, just to pave the way for the next step of collecting commercial taxes.

After the commercial tax is collected, the next step is to cancel the privileges of scholars and implement the unified payment of grain by the gentry.

The fundamental purpose of reform is to replenish the national treasury, not to make the rich richer and the poor poorer...

"When you were in the south, what was the reaction when the south knew that I was the king?"

"There was some chaos at first, but the overall situation was stable. At that time, in order to cope with the war, Emperor Long Jing drained all the southern troops and captured 100,000 strong men. There was basically no resistance in the south."

Qian Dafu said: "Besides, it is the noble clans that maintain local stability there. I know that you were planning to return to Beijing after you ascended the throne, but I don't know much about it after that."

"By the way, the Lancang Grand Canal needs to be renovated. Silt accumulation is serious and there are many blockages."

"Well, these things will be put on the agenda."

This conversation with Qian Dafu made Guan Ning understand a lot more about the South. The next step was to rectify the South.

There is no definite feedback yet, but it should be soon.

"Go ahead and get to work as soon as possible to stabilize food prices."

"yes."

The courtiers are concerned that the long-awaited manager of Dakang Liangzhuang has finally arrived.

This choice seemed both unexpected and expected.

The main persons in charge of Dakang Liangzhuang are all former members of Guan's business. As for outsiders, they can't get involved at all, and they don't dare to get involved.

After a few days of this, Dakang Liangzhuang was officially opened for business.

There is nothing wrong with establishing Dakang Grain Farm. The key is that it introduces commercial taxes. This is the most important thing.

As long as Dakang Liangzhuang cannot play its role and cannot achieve what Guan Ning said, people can take this as an opportunity and cancel the advice, and the business tax issue will naturally be shelved. Therefore, everyone is watching Dakang Liangzhuang.
Chapter completed!