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Volume 3: Spreading Wings Chapter 189: New Official Takes the Appointment

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    Censor Zhongcheng Yu Shen, who is now the Young Master, looked at Taishi Wen Shen who was sitting at the head, stiffly clasped his fists, and said: "I suggest that we increase the tax on workshops and overseas merchant ships, and at the same time reduce the tax on  People¡¯s household tax.¡±

    He has just taken up the post of Young Master, so he wants to make a fuss no matter what.  But he couldn't bear to have a grand master above him, and he knew that Wen Shen had opened many workshops, so he came up with this idea and thought that Wen Shen would definitely not agree.

    Then to his surprise, Wen Shen actually nodded in agreement.  This made all the ministers shocked. Wen Shen smiled at this and said, "Master Yu said it very well. I agree very much. We might as well not collect household tax in the future. What do you think?"

    Zheng Juzhong felt that his brain was not full, so he asked: "Master, if we don't collect household tax, what will we eat and how will we support so many officials?"

    "Didn't Mr. Yu say that we can increase the tax collection on workshops and merchant ships? I think this part of the money is not necessarily less than the household tax. By the way, please tell us the household tax last year.  How much did you collect in total?¡±

    The Minister of the Ministry of Finance thought for a while, then looked at everyone and said softly: "More than 20 million yuan!"

    Wen Shen pretended to be surprised and said, "It's only 20 million guan. I won't accept it after I see it! Didn't you just say that the Ministry of Household Affairs has a surplus of 40 million guan every year? Without these 20 million guan, there are still 20 million guan.  Well, it¡¯s okay, it¡¯s settled.¡±

    ¡­¡­

    Three days later, everyone across the country promulgated a decree that no household tax would be levied in the future.  From Wen Shen's point of view, the household tax is very unfair and inhumane, and it should be abolished as a matter of course.  However, in the eyes of Song people, it was different.

    In a small village in Yangzhou, the village chief stood under an old locust tree, holding a gong and banging it hard.  Before long, the whole village, old and young, gathered around.

    A middle-aged man held a hoe, looked at the village chief, and joked: "Village chief, what are you doing? Is there something important? Is there any hard labor?"

    "I think what Wang Daguo said is right. Every time I hear the gong, I know something is up. It's either working or collecting money. Every good thing is good." A strong young man looked impatiently and looked at the village chief.  .

    The village chief smiled and said loudly: "There is really good news today!" After saying this, he looked at the people with disdain.

    "What's the good news?"

    When everyone heard the words, they immediately became interested. They looked at the proud village chief as if they had been injected with chicken blood. If he didn't say anything, they would go up and tear him apart.

    Seeing that the people were all interested, the village chief coughed twice and said loudly: "Today, I went to the county to get a new policy from the court, that is, every household will no longer have to pay household tax."

    "What? Real or fake?"

    There was a buzz, and all the people shouted loudly in unison.  Also, this household tax has been deposited for thousands of years, and no matter which dynasty it is, it must be paid.  Now I hear that the imperial court no longer collects this tax, which feels a bit unbelievable.

    "It's absolutely true! This was proposed by the current Grand Master Wen personally, and has been approved by all the ministers, and it will be implemented from now on."

    The village chief was very satisfied with the expressions of the people, and he also felt elated.

    "Then, if Master Wen comes down in the future, will the tax be levied again?"

    An old man¡¯s face is as sharp as a knife, and his deep wrinkles show his age.  In his life, he has seen many things change from day to day.  He asked a little worried at this time.

    "Yes! Yes!" After hearing this, the people among them all catered to her.

    "This" The village chief pondered for a moment, wondering whether such a decree could be implemented for a long time.

    "Hey! I hope this Master Wen can work for a few more years"

    The old man sighed, shook his head, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked away with a trembling step.

    "Such a good official is rare throughout the ages. I will go back and set up a memorial tablet for him and offer it up. Let the whole family remember his goodness."

    "That's right, that's right"

    Just as people across the country were excited, officials at the lowest levels also saw opportunities to make a fortune. Many places secretly increased land taxes, hoping to get a share of the canceled household taxes.  However, the overall effect is still relatively good. No matter how local officials collect land taxes, they always target people with land properties.  The tax pressure on people without land has been greatly reduced.

    Another unexpected result is that without the household tax, many families will split up, and many small families will gradually become independent from the big families.  In the past, due to the collection of household taxes, many people were unwilling to live outside the big family. Now that they don¡¯t have to pay taxes, of course they are willing to live their own small lives.??

    ¡­¡­

    In three days, Wen Shen reorganized his office in Dutang. The entire layout was the same as that of the Yizhou office.  Sandalwood furniture, solid wood floors, retro lamps, two pots of money trees and a large fish tank.

    Sitting on the Taishi chair, he looked at Zheng Juzhong, who was sitting on the solid wood sofa by the door, and said with a smile: "Master Zheng, what do you think of the decoration of my room?"

    Zheng Juzhong looked around and said with some envy: "Master, your room is pretty good. When I have time, I will go back and get one. By the way, Master, why did you come to see me?"

    ¡°I plan to set up a new department?¡±

    "A new department? I wonder what department the Grand Master plans to establish and what its main responsibilities will be? Will it become a dispensable department like the Science and Technology Department?"

    Since the establishment of the Department of Science and Technology, Shen Wansan has been in charge and is mainly responsible for the issuance and management of patents nationwide.  Although many patents are issued based on applications every year, most of these patents are of little use.  This has led many officials to believe that the Department of Science and Technology is of little use.

    Wen Shen smiled and said, "Many things are not as simple as you think. It's not that they are useless, but the effects are just slower to show. Without talking about this first, I plan to set up a newspaper."

    "Newspaper office? What does a newspaper office do?"

    ¡°Simply put, it means compiling new or important things every day into documents, printing them into books, and then distributing them to various places, so that people everywhere can know what is happening in the country every day.¡±

    "That's it! The cost of printing is very high, won't the gain outweigh the loss?"

    "It shouldn't be high. I have a special paper mill and printing factory in Yizhou, which is enough to support a circulation of millions of copies. I came to you because I hope you can help me find a few officials with good writing skills to be responsible for writing the content.  and editor.¡±

    ¡°There are too many people with good writing skills. I don¡¯t know whether the Grand Master would prefer younger people or older people.¡±

    "Younger!"

    Wen Shen thought about it and felt that the younger ones were easier to train, unlike the older ones who were more stubborn.
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