A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 70: Favor
As the sun rises, the vast mountains and plains on both sides of the river shine like a brocade.

A small boat drifted leisurely into the confluence of the Wei and He rivers.

"Come."

Liu Ju stood on the shore and extended a hand to Zhuo family's daughter, Bai Xue.

Bai Xue, with Liu Ju's help, leaped ashore. At that moment, the red sun burst forth, and the man and woman under the morning sun looked quite beautiful.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

"If things hadn't been so sudden, I wouldn't have been able to get here," Bai Xue said with a smile.

Liu Ju nodded, "The empire's elite forces are indeed not a place that ordinary women can come to."

"People can't get in, but money can."

"The one who truly understands me is you, young lady."

Lifting the curtain, the furnishings had changed dramatically, becoming very neat and elegant. Liu Ju and Bai Xue took off their cloth boots and sat on the thick red carpet in front of them. Strong tea was warming on the stove, saving them the trouble of brewing tea.

Bai Xue took a sip of tea and smiled gently, "The new policies on vehicles and boats have alarmed my aunt who lives in Maoling. She said that commercial taxes have increased significantly and sent an elder to urgently inform me that the Zhuo family's business is entirely at the mercy of His Majesty's will."

"Did Lady Wenjun move to Maoling?"

"Uncle Sima is going to join the army, and Aunt said she'll go to keep watch over him," Bai Xue said with an awkward smile.

In her opinion, there was no longer any affection between her aunt and uncle. Was it worth torturing herself and everyone else for the sake of a so-called "love story"?
"She is also a woman of strong character."

Liu Ju offered a reluctant compliment, then laughed and said, "Does Miss Wenjun think that the relationship between the Zhuo family and me can be pardoned under the new policy?"

"I never imagined that the Zhuo family would pay all their commercial taxes, without evading or avoiding taxes."

Bai Xue gave her assurance, then paused and said, "However, the Zhuo family would like to ask the Lord to provide a clear path."

The Zhuo family became wealthy through iron, but under the new policy of monopolizing salt and iron, iron merchants like the Zhuo family could only obtain very meager profits from iron.

As the nominal richest family in the Han Dynasty, the Zhuo family did not care about such a small amount of profit. If they could not find a way for the family to succeed in iron smelting, they would demand to switch to other business routes.

Liu Ju nodded thoughtfully, "I wonder if the Zhuo family has considered serving the imperial court?"

"What does Your Majesty mean?"

"After the court deliberation, commerce will be considered a lowly profession, and this will be one of the national policies. I will never change this policy throughout my lifetime."

Snow White was shocked.

Even if the ruler is still young, and only lives to the age of sixty, he can still shine like the sun for more than fifty years. No industry can withstand such a blow.

"Young lady, you must have realized that with the size of the Zhuo family, simply changing business routes won't solve the problem, because the Zhuo family is someone the imperial court will not let go of," Liu Ju said frankly.

No industry can have monopolists. If there are any, it can only be the imperial court. Supporting private merchants and vendors inevitably means cracking down on wealthy and powerful merchants. The specific means is heavy taxation.

"In His Majesty's mind, how much tax would be levied on the wealthy merchants?" Bai Xue asked, her mind sharp and perceptive.

The Lord was never a "brutal" person; he only knew how to use a dull knife to cut flesh, peacefully scraping away piece after piece of meat. She wanted to know just how big the Lord's knife had to be.

"Nine out of ten taxes are levied," Liu Ju said with a smile.

"what?"

Bai Xue was stunned.

The imperial court does nothing but take away 90% of the profits from wealthy merchants. Which merchant can accept that?
They'd rather break up their family into smaller units and become small vendors than pay the nine taxes.

Liu Ju seemed to see through Bai Xue's thoughts and laughed heartily, "Young lady, you can give it a try." (Family)

It is a collective formed by blood ties.

If money is divided among individual entities and all are subject to heavy taxes, it will not be so easy for them to work together in harmony.

As you can see from the "Decree of Grace," countless princes and vassal kings engaged in underhanded tactics in the face of the power of the feudal lords, and many even died at the hands of their sons.

When a father suspects his son, and the son reports his father, it is truly difficult for ordinary people to maintain their integrity in the face of profit, let alone a merchant family that is already pursuing profit.
Liu Ju will gradually increase commercial taxes until they reach nine out of ten. At that time, merchant families will only have two choices: not to separate and divide their wealth, and to pay heavy taxes, or to separate and divide their wealth, becoming isolated individuals.

Of course, wealthy merchants don't necessarily have two choices. Take the Zhuo family as an example. They have too much money. Even if Zhuo Wangsun divides the wealth equally among his two daughters and one son, and then divides it equally among his grandsons and great-grandsons, there are still too few children and grandchildren. The wealth is too much, so they still have to pay heavy taxes. Unless Zhuo Wangsun is willing to divide the family wealth into collateral branches.

With the Zhuo family's million-dollar fortune, if divided among ten thousand or so collateral relatives, it would be close to the threshold for heavy taxation.

Liu Ju expressed his admiration if any wealthy merchant were willing to dilute their fortune by hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times.

"How should the Zhuo family serve the imperial court?" Bai Xue asked with tears in her eyes.

Faced with the emperor's overt scheme, the Zhuo family seemed to have no other choice.

"The salt and iron monopoly is a government-run operation of salt and iron by the imperial court. However, the imperial court is still the imperial court, and it is the place where officials are located. It cannot be reduced to a place of money. Therefore, salt and iron still need to be operated by merchants, but they must be subject to the control of the imperial court. The imperial court will send people to supervise them, and the profits will also belong to the imperial court."

"Guo Shang?"

"National undertaking?"

Two thoughts popped into Bai Xue's mind: But if we do that, won't everything the Zhuo family owns fall into the hands of the imperial court and be completely taken advantage of?

"What can the Zhuo family get?" Bai Xue asked calmly.

"His rank is the same as that of a prefect," Liu said.

What the imperial court could offer, and what was most tempting to merchants, was political status.

"..."

Bai Xue's chest heaved like ravines, meaning that as long as the Zhuo family was willing, they could immediately become officials with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain).
Even without the actual power of a prefect or magistrate, a position with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain measure) could allow the Zhuo family to completely break free from the declining business world and become officials like ordinary people.

The extreme denigration and the extreme backlash left Bai Xue somewhat tipsy.

This strong tea is intoxicating.

"Your Majesty, the Zhuo family needs time to consider," Bai Xue said with difficulty.

Since it concerns the entire Zhuo family, not only could the third-generation Bai Xue not decide, but even the second-generation Zhuo Wenjun could not decide the fate of the family. They had to consult Zhuo Wangsun from their ancestral home in Linqiong.

"Of course you can, but I must remind you, young lady, that the sooner you make a decision, the more you will gain. I will not haggle, and I will not do business with businessmen."

Furthermore, the state-owned enterprises held by the central government will not exceed one hundred, and the iron smelting industry will not exceed ten. I hope the Zhuo family will be one of them.” Liu Ju nodded and smiled.

"The Zhuo family thanks Your Majesty for your kindness."

"No need, this is the prestige earned by the Zhuo family's strength."

Bai Xue gazed intently at Liu Ju, "If possible, the Zhuo family will become the number one national enterprise, and even if not, it will become the number one iron ore national enterprise."

A cool breeze was blowing, and the great river stretched to the horizon under the golden sunlight, with a small boat bobbing and drifting towards the south bank.

Liu Ju stood at the bow of the boat, gazing into the distance.

(End of this chapter)