Zhao Ziliang smiled and said: "You don't have to worry.
It has been two or three years since I left Xinjing.
It's time to go back and have a look.
I'm not leaving right away.
I have to wait until after the New Year before leaving.
There are still two more Besides, it’s not like I won’t come back after I return to Western Qin.
The Regent’s Palace will continue Continue to exist, the royal palace and the cabinet will continue to be in charge of the military and political affairs of the Tang Dynasty.
Except for the appointment and dismissal of third-rank and above personnel and major military and political decisions, which must be sent to Xinjing quickly for the king to decide, other matters will be decided by the ministers of the regent palace and Your cabinet will discuss and decide together.
Don’t be afraid that you won’t be able to respond.
In the face of possible changes, as long as you adhere to one belief, you will do whatever is beneficial to the world.
As long as you adhere to this principle, there will be no situation that you cannot handle.
The Tang Dynasty can no longer be in chaos.
Officials, soldiers, and people all Hope for peace and tranquility, now stability is overwhelming Anyone, no matter who he is, who wants to destroy the current stable and peaceful situation is risking the world's disapproval and will be despised by the world.
You don't have to worry about who he is.
Don't hesitate and do it immediately.
Taking measures to suppress is best to nip the crisis in the bud.”
Li Kui, Li Xian, Yan Zhenqing and others looked at each other and agreed: "Yes" Within a few days, the news that Zhao Ziliang was returning to Western Qin spread throughout the court.
Zhao Ziliang did not block the news, and the news would be confirmed sooner or later.
He also wanted to see how the court would react after the news spread.
The reaction of civil and military ministers.
The reaction of the civil and military ministers of the DPRK and China was very dull.
It can be seen that whether Zhao Ziliang is present or not, no one dares to do random things anymore, because the new system has been established, and Datang has no external troubles for the time being.
From now on, it will always be committed to internal development.
Moreover, the official supervision system has been updated and strengthened, and the pace of rectifying officialdom has not stopped.
As long as the Regent's Palace exists, the newly established mechanisms will continue to operate.
Near the end of the year, there was no fluctuation in the court affairs.
According to the results of the secret investigation by the relevant yamen, no one has yet been found to have made any changes due to the news that Zhao Ziliang is returning to Western Qin.
Zhao Ziliang was relieved now, but there was still one thing that worried Zhao Ziliang.
On this day, Li Yi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, reported to Zhao Ziliang: "Your Majesty, the old financial system and taxation system can no longer bring enough money to the Tang Dynasty to support the needs of the imperial court, local government, the army and the imperial court.
It must be here We need to carry out reforms in two aspects, but I am not good at this aspect.
If we want to carry out reforms, we must find a talented person who is proficient in this aspect.
Wei Chen is ashamed.
As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he can't do anything about it.
Wei Chen is incompetent, so he resigned.
The position of Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs" "Don't resign at any time.
The king and the imperial court asked you to be the Minister of Household Affairs because they believe that you can manage the imperial court's purse."
Zhao Ziliang waved his hands as he spoke, thought for a moment and said, "Well, you don't have to worry about this anymore.
I will try to find a great talent for you."
After sending Li Yi away, Zhao Ziliang frowned.
Although the rectification of officialdom has not stopped and a large number of corrupt officials have been caught, the tax revenue has not increased much.
Zhao Ziliang knows very well that the burden on the people is very heavy.
But only the tax revenue entering the imperial treasury I'm afraid that less than one-third, two-thirds of the tax revenue has gone into the pockets of officials at all levels.
They embezzled the court's tax revenue in various names, but the court was unable to do anything about it because there was no evidence.
The lack of supervision and imperfect taxation system leave loopholes for those people to exploit.
Li Muchen was on duty in the lobby of the palace today.
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He heard what Li Yi reported to Zhao Ziliang.
When he saw Zhao Ziliang frowning after sending Li Yi away, he knew that Zhao Ziliang was worried about this matter.
After thinking about it, he stepped forward and said: "If the king is looking for someone who is proficient in financial management, I can recommend someone, but I don't know if the king dares to use it."
"Oh" Zhao Ziliang turned around and said, "Tell me about it."
Li Muchen said: "Liu Yan, the former Minister of Household Affairs, is still imprisoned in the sky prison."
"You mean to ask Liu Yan to take charge of fiscal and tax reform?"
"Yes."
Li Muchen nodded, "Although Liu Yan is now guilty, the ministers think that Liu Yan is worth using.
Your Majesty, the reason why Liu Yan was deprived of his position as Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and imprisoned in Tianlai is because at that time He is Yuan Zai In that major case of rectifying the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Liu Yan was blamed for poor management and supervision, and he himself was very honest.
As far as I know, except for some books and manuscripts, Liu Yan's home was simply It’s destitute” After being reminded by Li Muchen, Zhao Ziliang remembered that others didn't know, but he knew best how Liu Yan was dismissed from his official position and imprisoned in a prison.
At that time, he had just assumed the position of regent.
In order to establish his authority, he was the first to attack Yuan Zai's prime minister faction.
The household department under Liu Yan was the first to be targeted by him.
The reason for Liu Yan's downfall was essentially a political struggle.
In the end, who made him belong to Yuan Zai?
In fact, he himself is commendable both as an official and as a person.
His mistake was that he stood on Yuan Zai's side.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Ziliang ordered: "Come, go to Tianlao and bring Liu Yan to see me."
"Yes, Your Majesty" Zhao Ziliang knew that if he wanted to find a person in the Tang Dynasty who was best at financial management and had the ability to reverse the declining economic situation of the Tang Dynasty, this person would be Liu Yan.
His talent in financial management was even better than that of Yang Yan. , Now that Yang Yan is in charge of finance in Western Qin, it is certainly impossible for Zhao Ziliang to call Yang Yan back to Chang'an.
The only one who can use him is Liu Yan.
"Hey, just think of it as giving Datang a chance, and also giving Liu Yan a chance."
Just as he was sighing, several jailers and soldiers escorted Liu Yan in.
The heavy anklets and shackles dragged on the ground, making a dull metal collision sound.
Liu Yan looked haggard and his face was bloodless.
It looked like he had not been exposed to the sun for a long time.
Looks very bad.
Liu Yan knelt down in the middle of the hall, "The guilty minister Liu Yan comes to see the king."
Zhao Ziliang, who had his back to the door, turned around, looked at Liu Yan and said, "Liu Yan, do you understand your guilt?"
Liu Yan lowered his head: "The guilty minister knows his guilt."
"What crime" Liu Yan was stunned for a moment and then said: "When the guilty minister was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he not only turned a blind eye to his subordinates' embezzlement and misappropriation of money and food from the imperial treasury, but he also helped Zhou to do evil and stood on the side of Yuan Zai to bring trouble to the imperial court."
Zhao Ziliang nodded, "Are you still confused?
I have a few questions to ask you.
If your answers satisfy me, I can consider giving you a lighter sentence.
If you are not satisfied, you can go back to jail.
Sit down and wear it, you understand?”
Liu Yan said: "The guilty minister understands, please ask the king."
"First, although there are many acres in Guanzhong, because Chang'an is the capital of the Tang Dynasty and its population is much higher than other towns, it consumes a lot of food every day.
Now due to the long-term rebellion and separatism of feudal towns, water transportation has been neglected.
Not only There is a serious food shortage in Guanzhong, and there are also varying degrees of food shortages in other places.
There is a shortage of food.
Although the direct transportation method in canal transportation can solve the problem of food shortage, the direct transportation method consumes too much, and frequent ship capsizing accidents not only cause a lot of food losses, but also cause casualties.
What do you think can be done to solve the problem?
Grain from important grain-producing areas along the Jianghuai River was transported to grain-deficient areas.”
Liu Yan had obviously thought about this issue for a long time.
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He said without thinking: "Reform water transportation."
Zhao Ziliang was not surprised and asked: "How to reform?"
"To change the direct transport method to the section transport method, we must first organize a large number of manpower to dredge the river, divide the whole journey into four transport sections, and build transfer stations.
This will prevent river ships from entering the Bian River, Bian ships from entering the Yellow River, and river ships from entering the Wei River.
This has improved Efficiency in transporting grain prevents ship capsizing Therefore, warehouses should be set up at the junctions of Yangzhou, Biankou, Heyin, Weikou and other rivers to store grain for transshipment.
At the same time, supervision offices should be set up in water transport yamen to prevent water transport officials from taking advantage of their positions.
To benefit relatives and others” Zhao Ziliang did not expect Liu Yan to come up with an effective method so quickly.
He thought that he was indeed the first financial expert in the Tang Dynasty.
He lived up to his reputation and asked: "Salt tax has always accounted for a large proportion of the imperial tax, but In the past ten years, due to the For this reason, the salt tax collected by the imperial court has decreased significantly.
However, as far as I know, the salt tax paid by merchants and people has not decreased, but has increased.
Why is there such an increase in taxes paid by merchants and people?
How to solve the situation where the imperial tax revenue is reduced?”
Liu Yan cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, there are several reasons for this situation: First, because the price of official salt is too high, there are a large number of private traders selling private salt, and the government has also vigorously suppressed it, but with little effect because of the salt affairs.
Someone in the yamen tipped off the private salt traders.
Secondly, it was because the government's salt affairs yamen was huge and bloated.
After the salt tax was raised, only a few finally entered the imperial treasury.
Many officials were worried that it would be easy to find out whether they directly made money from the salt tax.
The official salt was sold to private salt dealers at low prices, and the private salt dealers gave generous returns to the officials."
During this period, unlike other dynasties such as the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, the salt fields of the Tang Dynasty were basically controlled by the government, and the government cracked down hard on privately cooked salt sales.
Except for a few private salt merchants who secretly cooked it themselves, most of the private salt was salt.
Officials in the Wuyamen secretly sold the salt to traders at low prices, and the traders gave the officials the salt tax in return for private ownership.
This is why although the salt tax was high, less than one-third of it actually went to the imperial treasury. one.
Zhao Ziliang frowned: "Since you know these shortcomings, why didn't you take relevant measures when you were the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue?"
Liu Yan cupped his hands and said: "The guilty minister only figured this out after several years of investigation.
Just when the guilty minister wanted to write to the emperor to take relevant measures, a rebellion broke out, Chang'an was broken several times, and many yamen of the imperial court had stopped functioning.
The guilty minister Even if we submit a letter, we can’t carry it out, so.”
Zhao Ziliang walked back and forth in front of Liu Yan with his hands behind his back.
After walking back and forth for a few times, he waved to Li Muchen who was standing beside him.
Li Muchen came over and nodded, took out an imperial letter, opened it and read: "Order of the Regent, although Liu Yan is here In the Ministry of Household Corruption case, he has unshirkable responsibility for overall control For the crime of failing to supervise his subordinates, he should have served ten years in prison, but now that the imperial court is in the midst of employing people, I used my privilege to pardon him and appointed Liu Yan as the Minister of Household Affairs, responsible for making full expenditures, transporting money, and casting money.
Xuyong and other messengers came to remove the instruments of torture for Mr.
Liu."
Liu Yan allowed the officials on his left and right to remove the instruments of torture.
With tears streaming down his face, he prostrated on the ground and kowtowed again and again: "Your Majesty is so kind to me.
I shall bow down and die with all my strength."