Eternal Night

Chapter 202 Taxation Issues
"So... I've been away for nearly two months?"

Wu Xianxiao, Daphne (in human form), and Jiujiu (in bird form) were sitting at a large round table eating.

Beside him, Zhao Fobao, dressed elegantly, was watching Wu Xianxiao eat with a happy smile.

Another An stood by and reported respectfully, "Yes, the immortal left two months and three days ago, and returned today. It is time for him to report the wealth of this government."

Wu Xianxiao wanted to refuse, but then he changed his mind and thought that although he had transcended this world, the palace maids and eunuchs in this mansion, as well as Zhao Fobao, had to rely on the financial income of this mansion to live and maintain their dignity. This was a huge matter for them, so he could not be so willful and reckless.

He nodded immediately and said, "Okay, tell me about it."

An was a little nervous at first, but she was overjoyed after hearing this, and immediately told him all the property in the mansion.

As long as Wu Xianxiao knew about it and nodded his head, even the emperor could not take away these riches. There would be a legal basis, and her girl would truly have this power.

This mansion is not just a house. When the emperor gave it to him, it also included two shops facing the street.

Tokyo Bianliang was the most advanced modern metropolis of the era, without a doubt. It was number one in the world including the entire East and West, so the land price in the city was extremely expensive. Even if the two street-facing shops did nothing, they could earn nearly a thousand strings of copper coins a year just from the rent. And these two sets of shops were located in a prosperous area, so they could earn at least fifteen hundred strings of copper coins a year.

In addition, there is a royal manor outside the city, which provides agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, etc. for the mansions, with an annual income of 500 strings of cash.

Here is two thousand copper coins a year.

According to the income of officials in the Northern Song Dynasty, a first-rank official, such as the current Zong Ze, was in charge of important military and national affairs, which was actually equivalent to a prime minister. His official salary was about 1,200 strings of cash a year.

So the income of two thousand strings of cash this year is not a small amount.

However, there are currently 120 palace maids, 80 eunuchs, chefs, craftsmen, dancers, technicians, etc. in the mansion, totaling 150 people, which adds up to 350 people. In addition, Zhao Fobao is a princess, so she naturally needs to be treated decently and well-fed, so these two thousand strings of cash are actually not enough.

Of course, this is the normal situation. If it were an ordinary person, he would basically have to accept offerings from officials outside the capital (relative to officials in the capital), engage in corruption, or abuse his power for business. Even Zong Ze could not avoid this, because if he did not do so, he would not even be able to support his staff, so what was the point of being a prime minister or an official?
This is actually just the unspoken rule of the Song Dynasty.

But Wu Xianxiao doesn't need to do so.

Since Zhao Gou ascended the throne, especially after Zhao Fobao entered the palace, rewards almost never stopped. He would find opportunities to reward him every few days. In the past two months alone, the amount of money and goods rewarded amounted to as much as 5,000 strings of cash.

Then the royal family rewarded three manors outside the city, which were connected together. Then Confucian scholars and academies from all over the country, as well as wealthy businessmen in the south, tried their best to give money. What An wanted to report now was actually these.

Wu Xianxiao listened to everything patiently. He thought for a while and said, "It's not okay to reject all of them. Then let's accept part of the wealth from Gongyang Faction, Zhang Zai Faction, and Mengzi Faction. Let's put it this way. Each of them will accept two sets of shops on the street, a total of six shops, plus the four manors outside the city. I think this should be enough for the money and food consumption of the government, right?"

An was overjoyed and immediately knelt on the ground and said, "That's enough, that's definitely enough."

Just a quick calculation will show that the total annual income is more than enough to make a fortune. Just a mansion plus the public property are definitely enough.

You have to know that when Zhao Fobao was still a princess in the palace, she only had a monthly allowance of thirty strings of cash. Although she had no worries about food and drink in the palace, she still had to make friends with some noble ladies in the palace, or take care of the servants. In fact, in terms of glory and wealth, it was far less than what it is now.

Although Zhao Fobao was young, he also knew these economic principles.

In other words, the Song Dynasty did not actually discriminate against economics. This was an area familiar to everyone from the emperor to the ministers to the people. So the look in her eyes when she looked at Wu Xianxiao became even more misty.

Wu Xianxiao felt embarrassed by being looked at. He coughed and said, "I will only stay for five days after returning. After that, I will go out to slay demons and monsters. I'll leave this mansion to you."

Zhao Fobao also squatted down and bowed solemnly.

In the following time, Wu Xianxiao took Daphne (in human form) and Jiujiu to wander around the city. In fact, he also wanted to show himself, so as to prevent the inertia that he had corrected with great difficulty from returning to the past, and then he would have to kill again.

In fact, when Wu Xianxiao thought about it carefully, he still had a lot of things to do in the Song Dynasty, such as inspecting the rich areas in the south, which would probably be a bloody journey.

kill! Only kill!

The killing has made the world completely terrified, and has forced those high and mighty people to choose between wealth and life!

Moreover, he didn't want to equalize the rich and the poor, he just hoped that these powerful people would at least treat themselves as human beings, and also treat the common people as human beings. But even to do this, he would need to kill people and leave corpses everywhere.

Apart from these, there was also a monk named Ba, who seemed to be from Tantric Buddhism. It would have been fine if he had attacked him before and been beaten to death, but the sight of his magical instruments made him furious, and when he thought about what he knew about Tantric Buddhism, wouldn't he have to go in the direction of Tantric Buddhism?
There are even remnants of life-mutilation, northern foreign civilizations, remnants of the Jin people, and even where his magical conch came from... All these are things he needs to explore or do, and it may take a year or two to complete them all.

But he should have had plenty of time.

This world is already a level five shelter, and there will be no new nightmares. His strength can be considered top-notch in this zero point seven dream world. It doesn't matter if he spends one or two years, or even five or six years. This is the base camp for him and his future team members.

Not to mention his current physical condition, even with the technology of the 29th century, it would be like playing for him to live for hundreds of years, so he should have a lot of time... It should be like this...

But he had three "concerns" on his back, all wanting to drag him into a deeper dream world, plus the negative backlash in his mind, which forced him to keep getting stronger, not to mention...

He still has a grudge to take!
Wu Xianxian took his bird and dog for a stroll on the street, buying a piece of cake here and a bottle of drink there, and he seemed to be enjoying himself along the way.

The news of his return was immediately passed to the court. In less than an hour, Zong Ze, Qin Hui, and a dozen officials in red robes came to find Wu Xianxie.

"Taxes? What does it have to do with me?" Wu Xianxiao said to Zong Ze and others in surprise while eating and drinking in a private room of a restaurant.

Other officials did not dare to look into Wu Xianxiao's eyes, and Qin Hui looked like a typical lackey. Only Zong Ze looked to be in his seventies or eighties, but he was full of energy, and he was the only one who dared to argue with Wu Xianxiao.

He smiled bitterly and said, "The Immortal said that we should treat the people well. Now our dynasty has stopped all kinds of taxes on the people and the farmers. But if we really do that, the court will fall apart next year. By then, the world will be in chaos, with countless casualties. But because of the Immortal's previous behavior, no one dares to propose collecting taxes now. The original tax officials are all resigning, and they are also sending the army to the north... I really have no choice. Either the Immortal cuts off my head today, or the Immortal allows the court to collect taxes."

Wu Xianxiao was puzzled and said, "Why not raise taxes? It is only natural for the country to raise taxes."

Many officials looked at each other in confusion. Zong Ze immediately said, "But if this is the case, doesn't it go against what the immortal said about treating the people well?"

Wu Xianxiao shook his head and said, "What are you thinking about? How can what I said be the same as this? When I say treat the people well, I mean treat them as human beings, not animals... Let me give you an example. For example, if a family has one mu of land, they will be charged 10%... that is, 10% of the grain tax. If they have 10 mu of land, they will be charged 20%. If they have 100 mu of land, they will be charged 30%. If they have 1,000 mu of land, they will be charged 40%. If they have 10,000 mu of land, they will be charged 70%, and so on."

"Then there is personal income tax. No tax is levied on monthly income below 1 guan. 10% is levied on 5 guan, and so on. 50% is levied on 10,000 guan, and 70% is levied on 100,000 guan."

"The richer you are, the higher the tax rate will be, so why oppress the poor? The rich are already rich enough, why not collect more tax from them? Take my mansion as an example, my annual income is more than 10,000, so I will pay 50% tax according to the proportion."

Many officials were puzzled, but Zong Ze's eyes were bright. He asked in a deep voice: "But the wealthy merchants will only pass on the burden. The court collected low taxes, and the tenants who rented their land still had a way to survive. But once they were taxed heavily, these tenants would really have no way to survive."

Wu Xianxiao waved his hand and said, "Then we should check the population and measure the land. The state stipulates that all tenants should only pay 10% grain tax to the landlords. If they pay more, the landlords will be killed. If there are one household, one household will be killed. If there are ten thousand households, ten thousand households will be killed. As for those who say that the rent is too little or they don't want to rent anymore, fine, kill them, keep killing them. I still say that people can't die from holding their urine. How many wealthy merchants and gentry do you think I should kill before they understand that life is very good?"

These words were full of murderous intent, and all the officials present were terrified, because... they and their families were all wealthy merchants and gentry! !
Wu Xianxiao didn't care. He laughed and said, "I don't know how to govern a country, but I know that survival is the primary driving force of all life. Perhaps one or two people would risk their lives for power and wealth, but when it comes to the entire ethnic group, they will inevitably change their way of survival in order to survive... Qin Hui."

Qin Hui was stunned, and immediately bowed and said, "I am here!"

Wu Xianxiao shook his head and said, "You are not my subject, but I hope you can become a subject of all the people... You come to check the population of the whole country and measure the land of the whole country. I will let Zong Ze send 5,000 fully armed elite soldiers to protect you. If you die in Xuzhou, I will let all the officials, gentry, scholars, and landlords in Xuzhou be buried with you. If you die in Yanzhou, the same will be true... I will protect your life and the life of your family. I don't want anything else, as long as you check the population and land completely. Is it feasible?"

Qin Hui was stunned, then overjoyed, and immediately knelt down and said, "I obey your order!"

Wu Xianxiao was too lazy to correct him. He just looked at Zong Ze and said, "If anyone rebels, you send soldiers to kill them. If you can't do it, I will go to the local area. If a village rebels, I will kill all the landlords and gentry in the village. If a township rebels, or a place rebels, it will be the same."

Many officials were trembling. Zong Ze said in a hoarse voice: "What if the whole world rebels?!"

Wu Xianxiao lowered his eyes and said softly, "Isn't that easy? Just let the wealthy merchants, officials and scholars..."

“Just send it all into history.”

Zong Ze asked again: "But people are wise and foolish, there will always be new wealthy merchants and gentry!"

"Do not."

Wu Xianxiao smiled. He poured a glass of wine and poured another glass for Zong Ze.

"As long as we kill people for fifty years in a row, and let everyone know that if wealthy merchants, officials, and scholars oppress the common people, they will die, and their entire clan will die, then they will not do that."

"I firmly believe it."

(End of this chapter)