Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 557 I, Song Yan, am determined to be that traitor Cao (6500 words)
Large swaths of clouds drifted across the sky.

Snowflakes fell heavily to the ground.

This is the first snowfall of the year... or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it an autumn snow. It looks like it won't stop anytime soon.

Fortunately, this year's grain harvest is quite good, and there are no Xiongnu or Jurchens coming south to harvest grain, so the people in the fiefdom should be able to get through this cold winter peacefully.

Inside the living room, willow charcoal crackled and popped, occasionally sending up a spark.

It's warm and cozy.

Luo Yuheng's voice still lingered in the room, echoing in everyone's ears.

Her expression was slightly solemn. Song Yan was now a prince and the head of the family. She was just one of Song Yan's many women. It was not appropriate to make a decision directly without considering Song Yan's feelings.

Since Ke Luoyuheng did it, she must have had her reasons.

As far as she was concerned, she arrived a little late and didn't hear everything. But what she did hear was enough to prove Cui Yingying's intelligence. If Cui Yingying became Yan'er's woman, she would definitely become Yan'er's virtuous helper, or even his right-hand woman. But if she pledged allegiance to other forces, such as marrying into the Yang family, then Cui Yingying's wisdom would become a big problem for Yan'er.

Luo Yuheng was worried that Yan'er would not agree to the marriage because of her relationship with Tianxuan and Tianyi, so she could only arrange the marriage on Song Yan's behalf.

Privately speaking, a woman as intelligent as Cui Yingying should either be used or killed. However, since she is Consort Shu's niece, they are related, so Luo Yuheng is reluctant to take action against her.

Therefore, having Song Yan marry Cui Yingying would be the best solution.

Cui Yingying and Cui Shi'an were also taken aback. They had been thinking about how to persuade Song Yan, but they did not expect that Luo Yuheng would directly decide on this matter. The Prince of Yan did not object. They had long heard that Luo Yuheng held a very high position in the Prince of Yan's heart, and today's meeting proved it to be true.

Cui Shi'an was overjoyed and immediately agreed.

The Cui family, wanting to form a marriage alliance with Song Yan, naturally knew that Song Yan already had a principal wife and a secondary wife. They also knew that Emperor Ninghe had bestowed a marriage between Song Yan and Luo Yuheng, leaving only one of the two concubine positions available. The Fang family was also clearly preparing to form a marriage alliance with Song Yan, and it was said that Song Yan also had a princess from a large Jurchen tribe by his side, making the competition for the concubine position extremely fierce.

In the Cui family's plan, it would be best to win a concubine, but if not, a wife would be acceptable, since she wouldn't be a concubine in name only. Now that Luo Yuheng has promised to keep the position of the first wife forever, it is already a pretty good result.

Cui Yingying breathed a slight sigh of relief. Despite her calm demeanor, she was still somewhat flustered when facing Song Yan, a ruthless killer who killed without blinking an eye.

They were terrified that they might accidentally say something wrong and anger the legendary, ruthless, and vicious King Yama, losing their heads would be a terrible loss.

"Yingying, don't worry." Just then, the seriousness on Luo Yuheng's face melted away like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun, and a warm smile appeared on his fair face. He even took a step forward, gently took Cui Yingying's small hand, and softly comforted her, "Yan'er is a bit dull."

Ziyu couldn't help but grin from behind.

Is he dull or unresponsive?

How can a dull person attract so many women?

“He wasn’t deliberately making things difficult for you, nor was he uninterested in you. It’s just that he… always feels that men and women should spend time together and develop feelings before getting married,” Luo Yuheng explained with a smile. “Back then, if it weren’t for the pressure from the Duke of Song’s mansion, Yan’er probably wouldn’t have wanted to marry Tianxuan.”

Cui Yingying was somewhat surprised. They wanted to spend some time together and develop feelings for each other before getting married.

These days, isn't marriage between men and women simply a matter of their parents finding each other agreeable and completing the transfer of benefits?

If couples can develop feelings for each other after marriage, they will live in harmony; otherwise, they will treat each other with the same respect, or even worse, they will become a resentful couple.

This King Yama is indeed a heretic, able to marry the Princess.

"However, Yan'er is an honest man. Since he has married you, he will definitely take responsibility." Luo Yuheng continued with a smile, "Although Yan'er has many women around him, Tianxuan will advise him to treat them equally. Moreover, your aunt, Consort Shu, has a good relationship with me. For the sake of this relationship, I will not let you suffer any loss. I will definitely make him leave you with an heir."

Heir?

Cui Shi'an's eyes shone even brighter.

In this era where filial impiety is considered the greatest of the three unfilial acts and having no offspring is of paramount importance, the significance of having children is extremely high. Once a woman has a son, she has essentially secured her position in the household. With Third Sister having a son, the Cui family has someone to rely on.

Song Yan had no chance to express his opinion, and the matter was settled.

Of course, Song Yan had no intention of resisting.

Over the course of more than a year, with countless acts of bloodshed on his hands, Song Yan may not have even realized that his way of thinking had been subtly changing. Although he still valued relationships, he had also learned how to think from a perspective of self-interest. So when Cui Yingying demonstrated sufficient value, Song Yan had no intention of letting her leave.

However, Luo Yuheng's honest assessment made Song Yan somewhat ashamed. In the minds of the Yang family, Prince Fu, Suo Chuoluo, and Wanyan Guangzhi, he was far from being honest. His manners were still lacking; he even felt a little embarrassed. It seemed he needed to work on his skin.

It must be thick.

But now, he's truly become a traitor like Cao Cao!

So be it, I, Song Yan, am determined to be this traitor Cao. Who can do anything to me?

Moreover, he already has a reputation for having a preference for married women. If we don't confirm it, wouldn't we be wrongly accused?
Besides, how many time travelers weren't traitors like Cao Cao?

With this thought in mind, a gentle smile appeared on Song Yan's face: "Since Yuheng has said so, let's settle this matter. I will choose an auspicious day to go to the Cui family to discuss the specific details of the wedding ceremony."

"Brother Cui, Third Madam, please take a seat."

After everyone sat down again, Song Yan took out a neatly folded piece of Xuan paper from his sleeve, clearly indicating that he valued the contents of the paper very much.

After glancing at it, Song Yan put it down again and turned his gaze back to Cui Yingying: "Just now, Third Lady said that my fiefdom still has some shortcomings. Third Lady has already mentioned the issue of using commerce to support the army. I wonder how this commercial tax should be collected and what tax rate should be set?"

"I wonder if there are any other problems within my fiefdom?"

Cui Yingying understood that although Song Yan had agreed to the marriage, the tests were still ongoing. Just as the Princess had said, there was no emotional foundation between her and Song Yan; only by demonstrating sufficient value could she secure her position in Song Yan's household.

She wasn't worried that Song Yan would kill her out of jealousy for talent... If Song Yan really didn't have that much magnanimity, he wouldn't have been able to attract so many talented people to serve him. Cui Yingying had investigated Song Yan and naturally knew that Liu Yisheng, Gao Xingcai, Liang Guangzong, and others under Song Yan were all highly talented, and Jia Yifei was a learned scholar from the north, quite famous among scholars.

Cui Yingying even felt that her talents were probably somewhat inferior to these people. It's just that these people were better at doing things; too many military and political affairs occupied their time, leaving them no time to think about so many things, while she... just happened to be good at looking at the longer-term future based on the current situation.

If she were truly entrusted with the management of a county or prefecture, she would probably be no match for these people.

As thoughts raced through her mind, Cui Yingying fell into deep thought. Song Yan did not urge her, and as for Yang Xiao and Yang Yunshu, the siblings from the Yang family, they were completely forgotten by Song Yan.

The Yang family is nothing but a nobody.

Song Yan could roughly guess their purpose in coming here, so why would he take those two people to heart? Just wait and see.

After about half a cup of tea's time, Cui Yingying pursed her lips and slowly spoke: "The implementation of commercial tax is actually very simple. With the prince's prestige in the north, as long as a royal decree is issued, it can be forcibly promoted. I think it won't cause too much of a stir. It's just that some specific details need to be discussed in detail."

"My suggestion is that although those street vendors are also considered merchants, they should not be subject to commercial taxes."

She spoke softly as always, and remained calm and composed.

"To put it bluntly, these small vendors probably don't earn much money throughout the year. The bulk of the commercial tax always comes from the large caravans and wealthy merchants. Taxing these people once is equivalent to the income of tens of thousands of small merchants."

"As for the tax rate, I suggest that it should be calculated separately. For example, if the annual turnover is 100 taels of silver, a symbolic half-percent tax can be levied, which is 5 taels of silver. If it is 300 taels, a 10% tax can be levied, if it is 1,000 taels, a 20% tax can be levied, if it is 5,000 taels, a 30% tax can be levied, and if it is 10,000 taels, a 40% tax can be levied."

A tiered tax system is coming.

Therefore, this woman's thinking is indeed quite advanced.

"In this way, although it may cause dissatisfaction among some large merchants, the grassroots vendors will not be greatly affected, and stability can be maintained to the greatest extent possible."

Song Yan nodded: "Indeed, this is exactly what I wanted to say. However, I originally planned to levy commercial taxes immediately, but Anzhou and Pingyang are both in dire need of reconstruction. I am worried that if commercial taxes are levied, all the merchants in the two prefectures will flee. Therefore, I have temporarily stopped. In your opinion, Third Lady, what is the solution to this matter?"

“It would be best to collect the taxes as soon as possible.” This time, Cui Yingying answered without hesitation: “Right now, His Highness Prince Yan’s prestige in his fiefdom is at its peak. This is the best opportunity to re-collect commercial taxes, and the resistance will be the least. Merchants are already used to not paying commercial taxes. Once Anzhou and Pingyang have been at peace for a long time, the resistance His Highness will face when collecting taxes again will be much greater than it is now.”

"In fact, the same applies to agricultural taxes. The prince is benevolent and compassionate towards the people. He can appropriately reduce the tax rate and collect less, but he must never collect none."

"As for the issue of merchants fleeing, there is no need to worry. As long as there are rare goods in the prince's fiefdom that are not available elsewhere, and as long as these goods can bring enough profits to the merchants, they will come in droves. As for the commercial taxes, they will simply pass them on to the buyers."

Song Yan pondered for a moment: "You continue."

"There's another issue with the Prince's fiefdom: land," Cui Yingying said again. "Due to the previous war, many people, and even landlords, died, leaving farmland unclaimed. The Prince, feeling sorry for the people, bestowed some land upon them for cultivation." "This isn't entirely wrong. On one hand, having people cultivate the farmland prevents it from becoming barren, allowing for the collection of more taxes next year. On the other hand, it also helps to win over the hearts of the people."

"However, there is a downside to this approach: ordinary people have very poor resilience to natural disasters and diseases. A drought, a rainstorm, or even just one person in the family falling ill could bankrupt a household."

"Most farmers don't have spare money. If a sudden change occurs in their family, the most common way to deal with it is to sell their land. Then these lands will be concentrated in the hands of some wealthy people. Even though His Highness Prince Yan has almost cleared out most of the landlords in the two prefectures, these people will soon become new landlords, and land consolidation will continue."

“Once land consolidation reaches a point that the people can no longer tolerate, then it will be the next demise.”

Song Yan sighed softly. So, Cui Yingying is a woman of great talent; she can even see one of the most fundamental reasons for the dynasty's demise.

Land consolidation.

This is a chronic problem that China's entire feudal dynasties could not change for two thousand years.

At the end of each dynasty, those who first rose up in rebellion were often impoverished peasants who had lost their land and livelihoods... Of course, the peasants who died the most were also from the lower classes, while those who ultimately got to share the spoils were often not the peasants.

“Therefore, I suggest that Your Highness not distribute the existing unclaimed land in the two prefectures to the people without compensation… but instead take it over as imperial estates,” Cui Yingying said.

"Imperial estate?" Song Yan raised an eyebrow.

"I misspoke, it should be Wangzhuang." Cui Yingying quickly corrected herself: "In short, it means that Your Highness confiscated these lands, that is, took them over to Your Highness, and then could lease them to the people in the fiefdom at a very low price, or even without rent."

"In this way, the people actually gained the land and were equally grateful to the prince."

“If someone wants to harm the prince, these people would probably be the first to object. After all, if it were someone else, they might not be willing to waive their rent. On the other hand, since they don’t own the land, they can’t trade it, which, in a way, can also curb land consolidation.”

Song Yan frowned slightly. The land was nationalized, and the people only had the right to cultivate it, but not the right to sell it.

This woman is truly enchanting.

“But what if someone in a family is seriously ill, has no savings, and no land to sell? Are they just supposed to wait to die?” Song Yan kept throwing out one heavy question after another.

Even though Cui Yingying was naturally intelligent, knowledgeable, and quick-witted, she still felt immense pressure at this moment.

This prince was like someone who came specifically to nitpick. No matter what suggestions she made, Song Yan could always find a problem and force her to improve them.

If this were in modern society, it would have a special title – "nitpicker"!
Beads of cold sweat had already appeared on Cui Yingying's forehead. She bit her lower lip hard with her pearly white teeth as she racked her brains, thinking: "Perhaps, Your Highness could set up a special Yanwang Bank... This bank would not lend large sums of money, but would target people who urgently need money. Once verified, it could provide small loans of a few taels of silver, with interest rates set extremely low, or even interest-free, and the money could be repaid the following year with the grain from the rented fields."

Song Yan remained calm, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

After a moment's thought, he picked up the Xuan paper in his hand and handed it to Cui San Niangzi.

Cui San Niangzi stepped forward and accepted it. She could tell that Song Yan valued this piece of paper very much, so she did not look down on it.

However, when Cui San Niangzi saw the contents of the paper, she couldn't help but change her expression slightly.

However, it was clear that most of the strategies she had discussed with Song Yan were written on blank paper, including commercial taxes and a tiered tax collection policy.

Originally, Cui San Niangzi thought that Song Yan was merely brave and skilled in battle, and although he was adept at composing poetry and lyrics, he was not knowledgeable in literature and politics; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked her so many questions… It was only because the Prince of Yan was good at listening to the opinions of others that he was able to govern Anzhou and Pingyang so well. She certainly wouldn't look down on Song Yan because of this, after all, knowing how to recognize and appoint capable people is one of the most important talents of a ruler, but she couldn't help but place herself in a more important position.

Only now, seeing the contents on paper, do we realize how vast the world is and how many talented people emerge from it.

My limited talent is simply a case of showing off my limited skills before an expert, making me a laughingstock.

For a moment, he even felt an indescribable admiration, and even fear, for Song Yan.

She simply couldn't imagine how a person could achieve such things. In matters of nature, he possessed extraordinary talent, able to improve iron smelting methods, easily forging high-quality steel, and elevating the armor and weapons of his soldiers to a higher level. He could also create magical substances like white sugar, snow salt, roasted tea, and soap, bringing in countless profits. In military strategy, he repeatedly won battles against overwhelming odds, suppressing and annihilating cunning and cruel Japanese pirates, rampant Jurchens, and the Xiongnu cavalry time and again, forging his infamous reputation as the "Mad Demon of Jingguan." Furthermore, he could compose essays and poems that would be passed down through the ages.

Nowadays, even strategies for governing a country are readily available to them.

She couldn't help but wonder if there was anything in this world that Song Yan couldn't do?
This paper also contains many policies such as the integration of land tax and poll tax, the equal payment of taxes by gentry and commoners, the return of fire tax to the public treasury, the establishment of the anti-corruption allowance, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The "integration of poll tax into land tax" meant that poll tax was incorporated into land tax. From then on, poll tax was no longer levied, but taxes were levied based on the amount of land owned. This would greatly reduce the desire of landlords to cultivate land.

As for the gentry paying taxes together, according to the laws of the four kingdoms in the Central Plains at that time, a scholar who passed the county-level imperial examination could be exempted from tax on 80 mu of land, a provincial-level scholar from 400 mu, and a metropolitan-level scholar from 2,000 mu. As for high-ranking officials and founding nobles, the amount of tax exemption was even higher, which, combined, was an unimaginably exaggerated figure. This privilege directly led to commoners voluntarily offering their land to the gentry because they were unwilling to bear the high land taxes. The gentry then collected rent slightly lower than the national tax, thereby intercepting the tax revenue that should have belonged to the imperial court.

Even worse, to maintain their own interests, the gentry class submitted a memorial during Emperor Renzong's reign, advising that officials should retain their tax exemption privileges after retiring to their hometowns, and that these privileges could even be passed down through generations of their families. After the abolition of commercial taxes, poll tax and land tax had become the two main pillars of the imperial treasury; this move effectively severed the pillar of land tax.

According to Cui Yingying's estimation based on the situation of the Cui family's ancestral land, half of the land in the entire Ning Kingdom was owned by aristocratic families and landlords, and of the remaining half, 80% were registered under the names of gentry. When Ning Kingdom was filled with starving corpses, the tax-exempt grain in the cellars of gentry and nobles had long been piled up into moldy mountains.

The practice of requiring gentry and commoners to perform official duties and pay taxes was tantamount to directly abolishing the tax exemption privileges of those who held official titles through the imperial examinations, high-ranking officials, retired officials, and founding nobles. This ensured that the privileged class and commoners bore the land tax equally, thereby preventing the loss of national tax revenue.

Cui Yingying believed that the policy of requiring gentry to pay taxes together would be a powerful way to curb land annexation, even more effective than the land tax reform.

However, Cui Yingying could also smell a strong stench of blood from this blank sheet of paper.

She could even foresee that once Song Yan implemented this policy in his fiefdom, it would inevitably provoke resistance from all the scholars, officials, and nobles in the fiefdom, and even cause a great uproar throughout the entire Ning Kingdom. Song Yan would inevitably become a thorn in the side of all the noble classes in the world, and everyone would want to devour him and sleep on his skin.

Her face was deathly pale, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

His long neck twitched uncontrollably as he swallowed, his hands and feet were ice-cold.

I tried my best to suppress my fear and looked down.

The next step is to return the lost revenue to the public.

The taxes levied in Ningguo were mainly of three types: grain tax, copper coins tax, and silver tax.

Tax grain and copper coins were the most abundant items, while silver was slightly less so due to its limited production volume.

Copper and silver coins, due to the long-term circulation of transactions, may become corrupted or rusted, thus requiring remelting. The so-called "fire loss" refers to the loss incurred during the remelting process.

In reality, this loss is not very large, and at most it will not exceed one percent.

However, no matter how much it costs, officials certainly won't make up for it out of their own pockets. Therefore, they will re-examine the situation and impose additional taxes. If it were just a normal increase, there wouldn't be a problem. But in reality, the increase is far more than one percent. In better cases, it might be twenty or thirty percent, and in some cases, it could even reach one hundred and twenty percent.

This is equivalent to double the tax.

The extra money was then divided up among officials at various levels.

Fire loss is practically a well-known gray income for local officials, and now Song Yan is going to confiscate this gray income... Isn't this tantamount to directly robbing money from local officials?
Cui Yingying felt a chill run down her spine.

Every single one of the new policies listed by Song Yan was a potential death sentence; it would either take Song Yan's life or the lives of officials, gentry, landlords, and powerful families.

But for some reason, amidst her fear, Cui Yingying felt a strange excitement welling up inside her. She had an irrepressible urge; perhaps only by doing something spectacular could she make her life worthwhile?
If Cui Yingying and Cui Songyan previously had some goodwill, along with admiration and fear, now they feel mostly respect.

She really saw the right person.

This is truly an extraordinary man.

This is the kind of man who can truly win her heart.

Even if one day I die and my soul departs, it will not have been in vain that I came into this world.

For a moment, everyone looked at Song Yan with fervent eyes.

"Does Third Lady think it is appropriate to implement these policies in my fiefdom now?" Song Yan asked with a smile.

Cui Yingying took a deep breath, her fingers trembling slightly, and handed the Xuan paper back to Song Yan. Her posture even made Cui Shi'an a little curious, wondering what was written on the paper that could make her third sister look like this.

She pursed her lips and spoke slowly in a slightly hoarse voice: "Such a major matter cannot be decided by Your Highness, but I can help Your Highness analyze the pros and cons. The strategies Your Highness has written are all strategies that can make a dynasty last for thousands of years. However, these policies will inevitably offend too many people. At that time, the whole world will be filled with enemies."

"Your Highness, are you ready?"

Song Yan smiled wryly:
"Even though there are tens of thousands of people, I will go!"

(End of this chapter)