Imperial study room.

Li Shimin was discussing a memorial from the prince with Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui.

"The prince asked the court to collect money and not collect physical goods next year. At the same time, the salaries of the imperial officials and soldiers of the imperial army were stopped and the distribution of grain and cloth, and only issued money and notes. The two dear ministers, what do you think about this matter?"

At the beginning of the new year, Li Shimin was full of energy. The situation inside and outside the court was in good condition. Now Li Shimin felt that the emperor was unprecedentedly comfortable. The Turks were destroyed and the Supreme Emperor also died. No vassal state in the surrounding area dared to follow the Tang Dynasty, and there was no other aristocratic family in the Tang Dynasty that dared to throw a tantrum with him.

The old Guanlong vassals were almost wiped out, and the rest were already honest. Even the Kanto gentry, who were extremely noble in the past, have now clamped their tails and become human beings.

The emperor's authority is nothing more than that.

After the Great Purge, no one dared to disobey Li Shimin's will. What's more, after the Great Purge, Li Shimin made a fortune.

Empress Changsun became pregnant again, and Li Shimin felt that she had reached the peak of her life.

Fang Xuanling also felt that his life was much better recently, mainly because the court is rich now. If the court is rich, of course it will be easier to be the prime minister.

"Your Majesty, judging from the tax situation this year, the two taxes are now far inferior to the industrial and commercial and mining tax, monopoly tax and customs duties. The Ministry of Revenue expects that the court's total fiscal revenue will be 80 million RMB next year, of which the two taxes will be 30 million RMB."

Li Shimin thought about it and wanted to stay in the state and the road, so the 30 million guan was paid in the end only about 10 million guan. Moreover, in the industrial and commercial tax, some taxes were intercepted. Therefore, except for the local intercepted fiscal and taxes, the central government could still have an input of 50 million guan.

This is just the income for next year. In fact, the imperial court still has a lot of money and land that has been confiscated.

The court is indeed not short of money.

"Your Majesty, I have carefully read the memorial of the prince. The prince requested to stop levying the two taxes and change it to fully collect money. Then the court stopped issuing the physical goods of officials and soldiers, and all the money wassuing the money. In addition, the court established a Food Bureau to purchase food from all over the world."

The unified purchase of grain is another important part of the prince’s memorial this time.

If the court no longer collects physical goods and does not distribute physical goods to officials and soldiers, it will definitely cause people's concern, that is, whether the food can be bought in the future and will the price be reasonable? After all, the imperial court used to directly distribute grain, and it was not only food, but also according to the grade. Senior officials distributed rice twice a year, but the rice distributed once was enough for a family of dozens or hundreds of mouthfuls to eat for several years. Therefore, most of the rice they received was sold to grain stores in the capital in the end.

In the past, the officials in Beijing basically received rice, with very few official salaries, and they would pay a lot of silk cotton cloth during festivals. In fact, they couldn't finish the rice they received, so they had to sell it out or open a grain store at their own homes. If they were sold, they would definitely lose some money when they were in and out.

For the court, giving officials rice instead of money and salary is because the taxes collected by the court in the past were originally physical items, so of course it is more convenient to distribute physical items. Secondly, the money is short and the court does not have that much money to pay for the salary.

It is precisely because of this that the court has always given officials rice and paid very little money.

But from the current facts, the Falu rice is not very cost-effective. Because transporting grain into Beijing is a huge expense. It is time-consuming, labor-intensive and cost-effective, and it is also very costly to be corruption.

But if you directly give money to the officials and soldiers, you will have another concern.

That is, food can not only be used as money, but it is also an important daily necessity.

"Xuanling, if I don't give you rice in the future, and I will send you all the money, would you like?" Li Shimin asked.

Fang Xuanling smiled, "Of course I am willing to get my salary."

Fang Xuanling was the second-rank Zhongshu Ling, but at the same time he was the first-rank scattered rank. He was also a second-rank Duke. His current salary, according to the court system, only paid according to the scattered ranks. Therefore, Fang Xuanling actually received salary according to the first-rank rank.

As the prime minister of the first rank of official rank, his annual salary is 81% and 600 coins. The rice is 650 shi per year. Of course, he also has 1,200 mu of vocational land. This 1,200 mu does not actually require the house to cultivate. The government directly rents it to the nearby people for cultivation. Then they pay the rent to the government, and the court then gives the house food according to the lease rate.

In addition, Fang Xuanling also enjoys the servants who were given to the court by public funds. As a first-class person, he can have a lot of servants. Of course, these servants can also be directly discounted by the court to the Fang family according to the number of people, and then the Fang family hired them themselves.

In fact, this money was not paid by the court itself, and those servants were considered a kind of service, so they had to pay for the service.

In addition, officials also have a lot of physical treatment. For example, a third-rank official with a salary of 400 stones of rice, 900 mu of land, and 38 travailers. They deliver nine plates of regular food every day (2 liters of fine rice, 8 liters of japonica rice, 2 liters of noodles, 1 liters of wine, 1 liters of mutton, 4 liters of sauce, 4 liters of vinegar, 3 liters of cucumber, salt, fermented beans, onion, ginger, sunflower, leek, etc., each with differences; wood, 2 liters of spring, 5 liters of winter; charcoal, 3 liters of spring, 5 liters of winter), which is about 8,000 liters per month;

I can also enjoy a free working meal every day, and every New Year's Day and winter is given five pieces of silk, gold and silver ware, and miscellaneous colors.

In short, the treatment of officials is pretty good, especially Beijing officials.

Although, in terms of calculation, the income of the officials of the Tang Dynasty was actually only one month higher than that of the Song Dynasty. But it was still good. Being a Beijing official, especially a third-rank or above, would not be considered other income, and you can make a fortune by just a salary.

Fang Xuanling only had 650 shi of rice per year, but it was still rice. Naturally, his family couldn't eat it, so the Fang family also had a grain store, which sold the rice he received. On the contrary, his salary was very small, only 81,000 shi, a year.

The rice this year is not worth much. The rice in Hanjing is only twenty cents, and the rice in five stones is worth only one hundred and fifty cents. Fang Xuanling’s annual salary is only one hundred and thirty cents. With his salary, he only only two hundred and eleven cents and six thousand cents a year. With other physical goods, laborers, etc., Fang Xuanling’s first-rate income is less than three hundred cents a year.

Fortunately, he still has 1,200 acres of vocational land, and he also has a title of honor and a real fief. After all, he has thousands of trump cards a year.

This is actually the small amount of the Fang family's income. The large amount of the Fang family's income is still in business. The Fang family's land, workshops, shops, caravans, and even invest money with Li Chao in trading. These are the big things. Although the Fang family is far less able to make money than the Li family, it is easy to make tens of thousands of yuan a year.
Chapter completed!