Do You Know?: I, the Little Cabinet Elder, Regent of the World.

Chapter 245 Why do I not have a virtuous minister like Jiang Zichuan to serve me?
Jiang Mansion.

A winding pavilion surrounds the water, and a gentle breeze stirs the curtains.

A small wooden table, about ten feet long, was placed on a chessboard, with pastries, fruits, and tea on it. Jiang Zhao, Cai Jing, Gu Tingye, and Sheng Changbai sat facing each other.

"Den!"

"Den!"

"Den!"

Gu Tingye tapped his chopsticks against his cup and recited: "The east wind releases a thousand trees of flowers at night, and blows down stars like rain. The road is filled with the fragrance of precious horses and carved carriages. The sound of phoenix flutes moves, the jade pot shines, and fish and dragons dance all night."

"Moths, willows, and golden threads; laughter and sweet fragrance linger as they depart."

"I searched for him a thousand times in the crowd, but suddenly when I turned around, there he was, in the dim light!"

"What beautiful words!" Gu Tingye couldn't help but exclaim.

Since ancient times, poetry and songs have emphasized the importance of "being appropriate to the occasion".

If it is out of place, it is usually regarded as a pretentious lament and will be ridiculed.

Conversely, if it is appropriate for the occasion, it is an expression of one's aspirations.

Therefore, any interpretation of poetry emphasizes "knowing the person and discussing the times," which requires understanding the poet's life experiences and the historical context of the poem's creation.

The same poem can be interpreted very differently depending on the author and the era.

Just like Jiang Zhao's "Qing Yu An: Lantern Festival", if it were written by someone else, it would be nothing more than praising the Lantern Festival and extolling beautiful women.

However, if Jiang Zhao were to make it, the significance would be quite different.

Since ancient times, many literati have used poems of lamentation to express their unfulfilled ambitions, and used the fragrant herbs and beautiful women in the poems to represent wise and virtuous rulers.

Based on this, the content of the poems is naturally not difficult to understand.

In the fourth year of the Zhiping era, the late emperor passed away. Jiang Zhao entered the border to pacify the territory. In Bianjing, there were many treacherous officials with ulterior motives who repeatedly slandered the emperor and even coerced him, intending to undermine his authority to command troops.

However, the government has given its full support and will not back down an inch.

Thus, Jiang Zhao's military power was secured, he expanded into five states, killed the king in battle, and captured Dong Zhan alive.

In the first year of the Xifeng era, the empress was arrogant and immoral.

To avoid disheartening the meritorious officials, the Emperor resolutely deposed and installed a new Empress.

In the second year of the Xifeng reign, the reforms were launched, but the opposition was vocal.

Without hesitation, the emperor demoted dozens of people and resolutely made Jiang Zhao the core of the reform movement, governing the country.

All of this made Jiang Zhao sigh – such a monarch could probably only be compared to the legendary sage king!

The sage king whom sages throughout history have been searching for is right beside us!

Everything is just as described in the poem: Suddenly I turn around, and there she is, in the dim light!
This poem, in terms of both its artistic conception and its overall structure, is of a first-rate quality.

Therefore, it's no wonder that Gu Tingye exclaimed, "What beautiful words!"

"Good words, good ruler!" Jiang Zhao picked up a piece and added.

Whether the words are good or not is not important; what matters is that the ruler is good.

Otherwise, this poem wouldn't be appropriate for the occasion.

"Your Majesty possesses great talent and ambition, and is undoubtedly a rare and sage-king throughout history." Sheng Changbai pondered for a moment, then nodded.

Ambitious, persevering, and decisive rulers are rare indeed, at all times.

Cai Jing held the teacup, shook his head slightly, and remained silent.

Sometimes having overly ambitious goals isn't necessarily a good thing; it could also mean being ambitious but lacking in ability!
This kind of monarch relies too much on the skill of his ministers.

If a minister is incompetent, the ruler becomes a mediocre ruler who is stubborn, self-willed, and favors treacherous officials.

All I can say is that my brother-in-law is truly capable, single-handedly carrying two officials to their deaths!

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! The latest poems by Grand Secretary Jiang!"

"Looking back suddenly, the Emperor is none other than the legendary Holy King!"

"The top scholar and the princess are finally united!"

"The land survey revealed 820 million mu!"

A barely audible call for a newspaper vendor drifted by. Jiang Zhao shook his head and placed his piece, saying:
"I won!"

The old year has passed, and the new year begins.

The end of January in the third year of the Xifeng era.

The Secretariat, the Hall of State Affairs.

The six Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet took their seats in succession.

Grand Master Han Zhang stretched his arms, looking dizzy and weak.

Jiang Zhao picked up a few documents and appeared to be deep in thought.

The remaining Grand Secretaries all remained silent.

For a moment, the courtroom was completely silent.

After a cursory glance, Han Zhang lowered his hands and closed his eyes, pretending to be fast asleep: "I'm dizzy, so let Zichuan speak."

Jiang Zhao lowered his hands and nodded respectfully.

The Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet exchanged glances, unsurprised.

Since the second year of the Xifeng reign, the Grand Master has been experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness from time to time, sometimes lucid and sometimes disoriented.

Not surprising!
"Recently, there have been several documents involving the approval of imperial decrees."

Reaching out to pick up a document, Jiang Zhao looked up and said, "The first document is a memorial from the Imperial Academy, concerning the elevation of the Imperial Academy's organizational structure."

"Recently, the Imperial College has set up newspaper offices in the two capitals and fourteen circuits. Apart from the newspaper office in Bianjing, the remaining newspaper offices can sell about 36,000 copies of newspapers at a time, which is quite thriving."

"If that's the case, the structure of the Imperial College should be upgraded accordingly."

Aside from Bianjing, the city and its fourteen circuits combined into fifteen newspaper offices, selling 30,000 copies of the newspaper at a time, which is equivalent to each newspaper office selling more than 2,000 copies.

Compared to the booming success of Bianjing, where tens of thousands of servings were sold at once, it was definitely much less impressive.

However, this does not mean that the Imperial Academy's performance was poor.

On the one hand, the newspaper was newly established and had not yet fully explored its sales potential.

Not long after the newspaper was established, it was already able to sell more than two thousand copies of the newspaper at a time. If it were to operate for a while, it would probably have the opportunity to sell four or five thousand copies of the newspaper at a time.

On the other hand, the literacy and economic levels in other places were different from those in Bianjing.

Bianjing had a population of two million, which was relatively concentrated. Many of the people were literate and had enough money, so newspapers naturally sold very well.

In other areas where the economy is poor, the population is not concentrated, and the number of literate people is relatively small, the market for newspapers will certainly be much worse.

Distributing more than two thousand newspapers at once is enough to generate a significant public opinion impact, which is already a remarkable result.

Xue Xiang, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, has made great contributions and deserves to be promoted.

With the rise in the influence of the Imperial College, it is appropriate to elevate its institutional status.

"Ah."

"can."

The document was passed down, and several Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet nodded in approval.

The Imperial College, as the highest official institution of learning, actually held a rather awkward position.

There's no other reason than that the organizational structure is too weak!
The Chancellor of the Imperial Academy was merely a fourth-rank official.

In other words, the Imperial Academy was a central government office with a rank of fourth grade.

This is almost the lowest-ranking institution among the central government's administrative offices.

Apart from the other five "officials"—the Imperial Household Department, the Military Equipment Department, the Imperial Workshops Department, and the Water Conservancy Department—which were established alongside it, and the Buddhist and Taoist Registries, which were involved in religious beliefs and had lower establishments, the Imperial Academy had the lowest establishment.

The main reason for this is that the Imperial Academy's powers were too limited and its influence too low.

The highest institution of learning, to put it bluntly, is just a "school" for teaching. In terms of real power and prestige, it is probably hard to compare with local educational authorities.

As a result, the establishment of the Imperial Academy was naturally quite low-level.

Now that the Imperial College has a newspaper business, its influence has increased significantly, and its organizational structure naturally needs to be strengthened.

but
"Given the influence of newspapers, it is not unreasonable to elevate the status of the Imperial College."

Tang Jie, a Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall, pondered for a moment and then asked, "However, should we elevate it to the level of the Nine Temples, or should we establish it as a separate institution?"

To date, the internal and external departments have mainly been organized into three types.

The ranks are: Fifth Rank, Fourth Rank, Third Rank, Second Rank, and First Rank.

The fifth rank mainly refers to the offices under the Six Ministries, as well as the Buddhist and Taoist Registries.

The fourth rank mainly included positions in the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Household Department, and the Arsenal.

The third rank was mainly held by the Nine Temples and the Censorate.

The second rank was mainly held in the Censorate and the Six Ministries.

The first rank, also known as the Grand Secretariat or the Secretariat.

In terms of power and influence, the Imperial Academy is still far inferior to the Censorate and the Nine Temples. Whether to establish a separate institution for it or to elevate it to the rank of a third-grade official remains to be discussed.

“Specially designated, temporarily promoted to the fourth rank.” Jiang Zhaoping said calmly, “Xue Xiang, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, is promoted to a substantive fourth-rank position, concurrently holding the title of Grand Master of the Palace. The remaining heads of the newspapers in the two capitals and fourteen circuits are ranked as seventh-rank.” As things stand, newspapers still have considerable potential for advancement.

Promotions within the system still require a gradual, step-by-step process.

A fourth-rank official?
The Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet exchanged glances and nodded in unison.

"The second document was written by Jiang."

Jiang Zhao picked up a document and continued, "The land survey has been completed. The next step is to collect taxes."

"However, in recent years, taxes have been collected in too many ways. Everyone says that the local officials are difficult to deal with, and the tax collectors frequently exploit people, causing great suffering to the retired officials and ordinary people."

"Tax collection must be reformed!" Jiang Zhao said emphatically.

The Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet understood and all nodded.

The elaborate land survey was conducted in order to collect taxes, and tax reform was inevitable.

"How should we change it?" Han Jiang asked.

"Unify taxation and simplify the process," Jiang Zhao said calmly, issuing the document.

The main tax system of the Great Zhou Dynasty was the Two-Tax System, which collected summer taxes once in June and July, and autumn taxes once in September and October.

However, in addition to taxes on farming, there were also taxes on corvée labor, corvée service, and household tax, which meant that people had to perform corvée labor and pay taxes on salt, tea, cowhide, and other items.

Over time, however, many problems have arisen.

The most significant drawback is that taxes are paid too frequently.

Generally speaking, local governments entrusted the collection of taxes to the grain chiefs and village heads.

With power being decentralized, grain chiefs and village heads, who now hold power, naturally seek to exploit others.

Each collection of taxes led to further exploitation, and the frequent collection of taxes undoubtedly gave the grain chiefs and village heads the opportunity to ruthlessly exploit the people.

As a result, the people naturally bear a heavy burden and suffer greatly.

Unifying taxation and simplifying the process is the solution.

The document was passed down, and several people read it in turn.

Compared to the past, Jiang Zhao's system has three main changes:

First, the original taxes such as corvée labor, corvée service, and household tax were converted into "corvée money." Corvée money was paid according to the fertility of the land and the amount of land, and the corvée money attached to each mu of land was uniformly stipulated for the three types of land: superior, medium, and inferior.

From then on, the common people only needed to pay taxes and service fees.

Except for military activities that could force the conscription of civilians, civilians were no longer required to perform forced labor or corvée labor under other circumstances.

If the government wants to build water conservancy projects or ditches, it has to spend money to hire people to prevent them from being arbitrarily mistreated by local officials.

Second, instead of having grain chiefs and village heads collect taxes on their behalf, the state and county governments should establish separate "Tax Service Offices" to allow officials to go directly to the countryside to collect taxes, thus eliminating the exploitation by grain chiefs and village heads.

Furthermore, considering that some local officials prefer to collect cash, the central government uniformly stipulated the corresponding conversion value of one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain to prevent local officials from suppressing the conversion price.

Third, when collecting taxes, a "double-copy tax receipt" shall be issued, one copy for the household and one copy for the government, indicating the amount of land, tax amount, and service fee amount, to prevent tax collection without a receipt and double taxation.

The three major changes are not difficult to understand.

Before an incense stick could burn, the document was returned to Jiang Zhao.

The Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet exchanged glances.

Any reform will have both victims and beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries of the tax reform are obvious: the common people at the bottom of society.

The three major changes reduced the economic exploitation of the people by grain chiefs and village heads, as well as the exploitation by the government through corvée labor and corvée.

Compared to the past, the burden on my shoulders is definitely much lighter.

Victims
Grain Chief, Village Head!
but
"can."

"That's fine too."

After exchanging only a glance, the group nodded in unison without the slightest hesitation.

Nothing more, the opinions of the grain chief and the village head are not important!
Since imperial power did not extend to the countryside, the opinions of the local gentry naturally carried more weight.

However, the grain chief and village head were not equivalent to the local gentry.

What is a local gentry?

Retired officials, clan scholars, and clan leaders—these are the true gentry.

What are grain chiefs and village heads?
Officially appointed servants, tools for carrying out tasks.

In terms of status and influence, the gentry were not comparable to the grain chiefs and village heads.

There may be some grain chiefs, village heads, and gentry, but they are definitely very few.

Moreover, they were most likely local gentry who were not well-off and had not achieved much success.

Therefore, for the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, the opinions of the Grain Chief and the Village Head were naturally of no weight whatsoever.

"The third document."

Jiang Zhao nodded, picked up the document and said, "The amount of coins minted by the imperial court is no longer enough to support commercial transactions. We must pay attention to the circulation of silver, but unfortunately, the Great Zhou does not produce much silver."

"In the first year of Emperor Taizong's Yongxi reign (984), the Japanese monk Chōran and five or six disciples sailed to Zhou and presented more than ten bronze tripods, claiming that gold was produced in Dong'ao Prefecture and silver was abundant in Xibie Island."

"Jiang intended to have Marquis Ningyuan lead 5,000 troops, carrying tea, porcelain, and brocade across the sea, to try and investigate."

"If it can be accomplished, it would be an exceptionally good thing."

"If it doesn't work out, consider it a maritime trade transaction; at worst, we'll lose some money."

To date, the shipbuilding technology of the Great Zhou Dynasty has become quite advanced, with some large warships being over ten zhang long and capable of accommodating hundreds of people.

Their navigation technology was also impeccable; to facilitate maritime trade, they even developed a compass specifically for navigation.

It is not difficult to send someone to lead several thousand troops across the sea.

As for letting Gu Tingye command the troops, it was purely a matter of trust.

"can."

"can."

"Yes."

Without hesitation, the group nodded in unison.

For large transactions, copper coins were indeed insufficient, and silver had to be the primary currency. However, the Great Zhou Dynasty produced very little silver, and there was also little silver circulating in the market.

If we had the chance to acquire a mountain of silver from Japan, the trade of the Great Zhou Dynasty would surely prosper considerably.

"The fourth document lifts the maritime ban."

At the end of January, the grass began to grow.

Go to the capital, to Linhuang Prefecture.

Kaihuang Hall.

Yelü Hongji, who was thirty-eight years old at the time, wore a forbidden robe with dragon patterns, held a document in his hand, and looked solemn and dignified.

"820 million mu!"

Yelü Hongji's hand trembled, and a sudden panic gripped his heart.

The same number can have different meanings for different people.

For the people of Da Zhou, this is an exceptionally good thing.

Once the land area is surveyed, the taxes collected will be higher, potentially enough to solve the fiscal deficit problem.

But for Yelü Hongji, this was absolutely devastating news.

As emperor, Yelü Hongji was well aware of the difficulty of conducting a "land survey".

It is difficult to survey land in agricultural civilizations, and it is difficult to survey population in nomadic civilizations.

This can be seen from the fact that the land surveys conducted by the Great Zhou Dynasty were repeatedly ineffective.

Who would have thought that a reform would actually lead to a complete land survey in the Great Zhou Dynasty?

This is not just a matter of land surveying.

This means that the reforms of the Great Zhou Dynasty were a success!

Even if it ends now, it's still a profit.

Yelü Hongji remained silent, a sudden surge of fear rising in his heart.

Throughout the history of the Central Plains, successful reforms often meant a tragic end for the other side.

Can the Liao Dynasty hold out?

In just a moment, Yelü Hongji shook his head repeatedly.

He doesn't know either!
What followed was a desire for reform.

But the thought of the failure of the reform immediately extinguished his desire for reform.

"Ugh!"

Yelü Hongji sighed and closed his eyes in resignation.

"Why do I lack a loyal minister like Jiang Zichuan?"

(End of this chapter)