Li Jing recovered Liaodong and Liaoxi, first defeated Goguryeo and Bohai, and then defeated Khitan, and surrendered to Tatar and Xi.

Although Gao Biao is known as a famous general, his greatest achievement is the defeat of 200,000 Nanban in Annam, and then the retreat of Nanzhao in Xichuan.

However, when Li Jing's prestige reached a peak in the government and the opposition, it had already made Tian Lingzi, Lu Xie, Gao Biao and others jealous.

The wood is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it!

Up to now, Li Jing, who hangs the seal of the marshal of five towns, is the king of Andong County, has jurisdiction over sixteen states, has five million people, and commands 200,000 soldiers, is like the blazing sun in the sky, even if he wants to be low-key, and then he wants to keep a low profile, it is already impossible.

"He was appointed to Anzhou, and the immigrants built roads, reclaimed fields, and built water conservancy, and they did a very good job, and they made great contributions."

"I don't dare to take credit for my position, this is the commander's overall planning, and the lower is the military and civilian suburbs. Inside, there are public fundraisers, and outside there are people working hard. So-and-so just did his duty and did some of his duty."

"You don't have to be too humble to send it." Li Jing waved his hand and said: "There are not many places that govern sixteen states, but there are not many people who are on the front line like Anzhou, and the local affairs are so well managed. A certain has also done a history of Dengzhou assassination, and naturally knows the difficulties of taking charge of a state's civil affairs. In particular, Anju is still on the front line, and it is even more difficult. The ability to send it is really superior. I also know that I am humble and old-fashioned, and I am a capable officer. That's why I'm here to talk to him about a few important things. ”

"Listen to the teachings of the county king!" Gai Yu said respectfully.

Li Jing nodded. Said slowly: "A few days ago, a certain person outside the city welcomed Cui Gong into Dengzhou. Do you know that Lu Dao is not the only one who comes, such as Cui Gong and Song Wen. There were also the envoys of Huainan Gaoyu, as well as the tax envoys sent by the princes of the political hall, and the eunuchs sent by Tian Lingzi to build a city in Dengzhou? ”

When Gai Yu heard this, although he had already seen it from the newspaper, his face pretended to show a little emotion.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, he once set up a city envoy in Guangzhou, and the eunuch served as the city envoy. During the reign of Xuanzong, he set up a city envoy in Annam, and the city envoy was in charge of maritime trade and collected customs duties. Although Dengzhou has always been a big port in the north, it has never set up a city envoy. First, although Dengzhou Port was one of the four major ports of the Tang Dynasty in the early days, it was not as good as Guangzhou. Second, the development of maritime trade in Dengzhou was mainly after Li Jing took charge of Dengzhou, and Li Jing was close to the Son of Heaven before, so no one mentioned this matter.

And now. Tian Lingzi suddenly sent someone to Dengzhou to be a city envoy, and he undoubtedly went straight to Li Jing.

But on the other hand. Dengzhou has now become the most prosperous sea trade port in the Tang Dynasty, and if the imperial court wants to set up a city, it can be regarded as the past.

However, the imperial court sent people to collect taxes, which was a bit unjust.

After the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty, the tax system was reformed and became a two-tax system. The two taxes collected by the local government were not all handed over to the imperial court, but formed a two-tax and three-point system of supplying, sending envoys, and staying in the state. According to the tax system of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court lived within its means.

The levy is based on the amount of the tax in the previous year, and is divided equally among the states. There is a fixed amount of these two taxes. After this fixed amount of tax comes up, it will be divided into three parts: supply, envoy and stay.

The upper supply is naturally the upper supply to the central government, and this part accounts for one-third in some feudal towns and one-fifth in others. For example, in Ziqing Town, part of the history of the upper offering accounts for one-fifth......

The remaining two parts, sent to the envoy, are handed over to the marshal's mansion of the feudal town, and the stay in the state is to stay in the dependent state.

Originally, after the five prefectures of Ziqing Town pacified the Li family in Ziqing and divided the eleven prefectures of Ziqing into the three towns of Ziqing, Tianping and Taining, the two taxes levied on the five prefectures of Ziqing for the first time were 193,980 yuan and 70,000 stones. The Tianping Army has 150,000 guan and 50,000 stone in the three states. The Taining Army has 100,000 yuan and 50,000 stones.

For a long time, Ziqing Town has been offering 200,000 yuan and 70,000 stone millet to the imperial court every year according to this standard. The Shuaifu left 600,000 guan money and 210,000 stone millet, and the following five subordinate states left a total of 200,000 guan money and 70,000 stone millet.

However, although the imperial court reiterated that no other money could be levied in addition to the two taxes, the feudal towns generally levied additional taxes in order to raise soldiers. Use the additional money to raise soldiers.

Li Jing now rules the land of the sixteen states, and if all of them have to collect two taxes, the average total amount of the two taxes in one state is 250,000 yuan and 80,000 stones. The total amount of the two taxes in the sixteen states should be four million yuan in money, and one hundred and thirty-three thousand stone millet.

According to the old system, Li Jing had to pay one-fifth of these two taxes to the imperial court as an offering, which was 800,000 yuan and 266,000 stone millet.

This money and grain is not much, but Li Jing has not paid these two taxes to the imperial court, and he has not had it. However, Li Jing handed over a million yuan of goods to the imperial court every month. Although this million guan has water, and many tributes are worth it, even if it is counted in half, there are at least 500,000 guan, and there are 6 million guan a year. And the two taxes of the imperial court are worth two million at most. After all the calculations, in fact, Li Jing gave the court an extra 4 million yuan every year.

In addition, in addition to the two taxes levied by the imperial court, salt tea and iron belonged to the monopoly, and this income accounted for a large part of the income of the imperial court. Li Jing served as the salt and iron transfer envoy, and at the beginning, Tian Lingzi directly set a quota of two million yuan a year for the tax on this salt and iron tea in order to pit Li Jing.

At present, the imperial court receives from Dengzhou every year the tax of Shangfu and salt and iron tea is at least 8 million guan. This amount of money is already quite a lot.

"Could it be that the imperial court is aggressive for the sake of eight hundred thousand yuan a year and two taxes of 266,000 stone millet, so it is not afraid that we will stop the monthly contribution of one million yuan?"

Li Jing stared at Gaiyu, shook his head, and sighed: "The emperor is a young son of heaven, he ascended the throne at the age of twelve, and he is only sixteen years old now. Moreover, the Son of Heaven was tempted by Tian Lingzi, an old thief, and only knew how to play, and the political affairs of the DPRK and China were not all decided by Tian Lingzi. ”

Gai Yu snorted coldly: "Xianzong's Zhongxing and Xuanzong's accumulation of family funds have all been shaken clean by Yizong and the current father and son generations. Natian Lingqi is not a capable person, and the imperial court has been fighting with Nanzhao non-stop before, and finally stopped the army. In the past few years, he has been fighting non-stop with Shatuo and grass thieves. Raising troops year after year. Plus the luxury in the palace. The treasury has long been empty. ”

"Admittedly." Li Jing also sneered: "The treasury of the imperial court has long been empty, and now even the southeast that has been supplying blood to the imperial court has been in chaos due to grass thieves, and all towns in the southeast have begun to strengthen their armaments and reorganize their armaments, so that there is no spare money to transport to Guanzhong." The court has no money for the army, and the Son of Heaven has no money to play with, so Tian Lingzi came to our side. ”

Although it is said that Datang has the law of two taxes, in fact. There are also local towns or prefectures that change their tax systems. However, the imperial court was unable to restrain the localities, so the local governments collected local taxes, and as long as the local governments could hand over the part of the supply according to the quota of the two taxes, they would turn a blind eye.

If the Zhenguo Army comprehensively reformed the tax system and changed the two-tax system to the apportionment into mu system, the imperial court naturally knew about it a long time ago, but no one cared about it. After all, the money that Li Jing handed over to the imperial court in a year was not a small amount.

But now, Tian Lingzi is already poor and crazy. Or after seeing Li Jing's current momentum, he was already afraid. So he sent a tax collector to test it.

"Tian Lingzi's tax collector Ben Shuai has already seen it, and he conveyed Tian Lingzi's meaning, I rule the sixteen states, and one-third of the annual tax revenue must be handed over to the imperial court. In addition, in Dengzhou Port, Duli Port, Qingnipu Port, Qinhuangdao Port, Qingdao Port, and Shirenwang Port, officials of the Municipal Shipping Department must be set up to collect maritime trade and commercial taxes in a unified manner, and the merchant ships and goods entering and leaving the port must be taxed, and two-thirds of the income tax collected by the imperial court and one-third will be given to us. In addition, the tax on salt, iron and tea has also been changed, and each bucket of salt is taxed at 100 wen. ”

"Tian Lingzi is really poor and crazy!" When Gai Yu heard this detailed content, he couldn't help but shake his head again and again. Previously, the Zhenguo Army handed over 8 million yuan to the imperial court a year, which was already a huge amount. But now, Tian Lingzi obviously sees the prosperity of the Zhenguo Army, and Zhilu Dao's tax revenue in a year is definitely more than two taxes. In particular, the prosperity of the sea trade of the Zhenguo Army, as well as the extremely developed salt industry of the Zhenguo Army, almost monopolized half of the Datang region.

They are now proposing a tax reform, no longer collecting taxes according to fixed amounts, but directly siphoning out one-third of Li Jing's tax revenue after the new tax law. In addition, it is necessary to build a city and a shipping company, snatch two-thirds of the interests of the maritime trade side, and refuse to let go of even the profits of the salt industry.

"Tian Lingzi is not just here to rob money, he is still testing us. If we agree, then he will naturally grab a lot of money, and we will be charged this tax by him, and it will be difficult for us to develop in the future. If we refuse to agree, it is estimated that Tian Lingzi will know that we are unwilling to compromise, and it is inevitable that we will fight to the death, and change the secret struggle into an open struggle. Gai Yu said, with a faint excitement in his heart. If Tian Lingzi and the imperial court really pressed forward step by step, with Li Jing's character, maybe they would fight back. He felt his blood boiling, and he kept shouting in his heart, it's the opposite, it's the fuck!

"There is a bottom line in everything, and in the past, I repeatedly tolerated Tian Lingzi and Gao Biao, but it was because we still needed time. But now, Tian Lingzi wants to rob the money of the Zhenguo Army, and Gao Biao is coming to transfer troops again, are they really so bullied by me? Li Jing was already a little impatient with Tian Lingzi and Gao Yu's provocations, and now Bohai, Goguryeo, and Khitan were all defeated by the Zhenguo army, and Tatar and Xi were all attached.

Although Goguryeo had not yet been completely destroyed, Li Jing had already managed a stable and peaceful rear. It can be said that the foundation has been set and the hegemony has just begun.

Moreover, after Tian Lingzi made such a request, Li Jing had no way to retreat.

He came to Gai Yu because he knew that Gai Yu was not loyal to the Tang Dynasty. What he is hesitating about now is how much he wants to fight back.

"Eat and drink well and keep Tian Lingzi's envoys, put them under house arrest, and at the same time, directly stop the monthly tribute to the Son of Heaven." Gai Yu wanted to open his mouth and loudly persuade Li Jing to directly pull the flag against Tang, but this thought only flashed in his mind for a moment.

He is no longer the guy he was when he was in Daibei, and following Li Jing has made him mature a lot in the past few years. Pay attention to one interest in everything, and it is not a good time to pull the flag and rebel at the moment, and the whirlpool that comes out will rot first.

Neither can the court gain an inch, but also cannot cut itself off.

"First of all, just drag it out like this, and talk to the court, and after we destroy Goguryeo, there will be no worries at that time, no matter what the court wants, we can be invincible." After thinking about it a few times, Gai Yu put forward his own countermeasures. (To be continued......)