bullyxtreme Page 212
Page 212
This undoubtedly greatly damaged the interests of the five surnames and Qiwang, and Li Ke's actions were digging their foundations!
Five Surnames and Seven Hopes rely on the monopoly of books and scholars to grow into today's behemoth.
But now that Li Ke is cultivating scholars on a large scale, it is tantamount to completely breaking the monopoly of the five surnames and Qiwang on books and scholars.
When these scholars grow up, take part in the imperial examination and defeat people with five surnames and Qiwang, then the officials in the court and the state capitals of the Tang Dynasty will no longer be members of their five surnames and Qiwang family.
At the same time, the Tang court's dependence on the five surnames and seven Wangs will be minimized.
Once the court no longer relies on the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs, then the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs will not have a good life.
Li Shimin will definitely not let them go.
Therefore, Wu Xing Qiwang must not let this kind of thing happen, so he must find a way.
Where to find a way?
That must have come from Li Ke. As long as Li Ke is persuaded to change his mind, they can stabilize their monopoly position of five surnames and seven wangs.
Li Ke had thought before that the five surnames and Qiwang might come to him.
However, he felt it could be longer.
Unexpectedly, Wu Xing Qiwang couldn't sit still, and sent someone to see him so soon.
And they sent someone from the Qinghe Cui family!
It seemed that Wu Xing Qiwang was still in the dark, thinking that he didn't know that the dead men were sent by Wu Xing Qiwang.
Otherwise, no matter how courageous the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs are, they would not dare to send someone to see him.
Not to mention the people who sent Qinghe Cui, this is the one that sent the dead.
Now he also understood why the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion had weird expressions just now.
Because after the assassination, the soldier was also in the room when the people were called to the supplies for questioning.
Obviously this soldier knew that the dead man who assassinated Li Ke was sent by Qinghe Cui.
Therefore, the soldier probably had the same thoughts as Li Ke in his heart. How dare the Qinghe Cui family send someone to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to meet Li Ke?
"Let them in."
Li Ke thought for a while, then said to the soldiers.
Anyway, the five surnames and Qiwang don't know it now, and they already know that they sent the dead men back then.
It is estimated that they still regard themselves as objects that can be wooed.
He wanted to see what conditions Wu Xing Qi Wang could offer in order to win him over.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The soldier nodded immediately, then went outside and brought the Qinghe Cui family member in.
Not only that, the soldiers also kept an eye out and called a few more soldiers to come in together.
After all, he knew that the former dead man was sent by the Qinghe Cui family, and now the Qinghe Cui family sent someone to see Li Ke.
What if it's an assassin?
So he had to be more careful and arranged for a few people to stand beside Li Ke for protection.
"good."
Li Ke naturally saw this scene, and was very satisfied with the soldier's performance.
Soon, Li Ke saw this person from Qinghe Cui family.
There were two people who came, one in his 40s and the other in his 20s.
The man in his 40s has a rather elegant appearance and temperament, and he looks like a scholar.
The young man in his twenties, handsome in appearance and extraordinary in temperament, presumably is also a young talent of the Qinghe Cui family.
After they entered the living room, they saw a young man wearing a prince's python robe sitting on the main seat.
Needless to say, this must be Li Ke.
In the whole of Yangzhou, there is only one prince, Li Ke.
Moreover, even if Li Ke was wearing ordinary clothes, they could still recognize Li Ke.
Because, in order to assassinate Li Ke, Qiwang of the five surnames specially asked someone to draw a portrait.
It can be said that the high-level executives with five surnames and Qiwang basically remembered Li Ke's appearance.
"Qinghe Cuiyu sees His Royal Highness King Wu!"
Cui Yu, who is in his 40s, first saluted Li Ke.
"Qinghe Cuiyuan sees His Royal Highness King Wu!"
The young Cui Yuan also saluted Li Ke.
"What's the matter with seeing this king?"
Li Ke glanced at him and asked lightly.
"Your Highness, I don't know what you said in Yangzhou and Suzhou, is it true that as long as the merchant pays the commercial tax, the children of the merchant will be eligible to take the imperial examination?"
Cui Yu raised his head, and first asked Li Ke without humility.
He is a member of the Qinghe Cui family, and he is also one of the core figures of the second generation in the Qinghe Cui family.
His identity and the pride in his heart made it inevitable that he would not show a humble attitude in front of Li Ke like other people.
"It's true, why?"
Li Ke glanced at him coldly and couldn't help but smile.
As soon as these words came out, Li Ke knew what Cui Yu wanted to say.
Is it just to use this matter to put pressure on him?
After all, this matter has not yet been approved by the court, so Li Ke's move is undoubtedly a bit presumptuous.
And the reason why those merchants were able to obey and pay the business tax willingly was because Li Ke promised that their children could take the imperial examination and improve their status.
These are just what Li Ke himself said in Yangzhou and Suzhou, without the consent of the court.
And once the court disagrees with this matter, it will not recognize what Li Ke said.
Then it is impossible for these businessmen to pay business taxes willingly.
And once merchants do not pay commercial taxes, the financial investment of a large number of government schools in Yangzhou and Suzhou cannot afford it.
In the end, the government school closed down, and the students were still unable to study.
Obviously, Cui Yu had such an idea in his heart.
In other words, this style of play was prepared by Five Surnames and Seven Wangs!
"It seems that the five surnames and Qiwang still have capable people!"
Li Ke couldn't help smiling in his heart.
The five surnames and seven Wang looked quite clearly, seeing the essence of the problem clearly.
If you want to dismantle what Li Ke has done and make these students unable to study, you can only cut off the fiscal revenue of Yangzhou and Suzhou.
A penny is hard for a hero. As long as the government has no money to invest, those government schools will naturally not be able to continue.
At that time, they will still monopolize the scholars with five surnames and seven hopes.
And how to make the finances of Yangzhou and Suzhou have no money?
Cut off the source of commercial tax, the source of commercial tax is the merchant, what is the reason for the merchant to pay the tax?
Children take part in imperial examinations!
As long as the court refuses this matter, the matter will naturally be resolved.
"As far as I know, His Majesty and the court don't seem to have said that."
Cui Yu said confidently with an expression of Zhizhu in his hands.
"Father and the court did not say anything, but I believe they will agree soon."
With a smile on the corner of Li Ke's mouth, he said playfully.
"Your Highness may be too confident, I think all courtiers will object."
Cui Yu raised his eyebrows, thinking that Li Ke was still too young and overconfident.
In other words, Li Ke underestimated the strength of the five surnames and Qiwang in the court and place a little too much.
With their five surnames and seven Wangs present, it is impossible for the imperial court to agree to this matter.
"Really? This is the commercial tax collected by Yangzhou and Suzhou last month. Do you want to see it?"
Li Ke asked Cui Yu to pass the tax report sent by the Commercial Bureau to Cui Yu, which opened his eyes.
Cui Yu took over the tax report, but he still had a disapproving mentality
But when he saw the data on the tax report, his eyes froze slightly.
In the last month's business tax alone, Yangzhou and Suzhou combined had a total of 1.8 guan!
And as far as he knew, last month was not a full moon!
In other words, the business tax for a whole month may exceed 2 guan.
And this is just Yangzhou and Suzhou.
There are 360 states in the Tang Dynasty. If all of them are added up, the annual business tax will be a huge sum!
After Cui Yu read it, Cui Yuan, who was on the side, was stunned suddenly when he saw the uncle, and couldn't help but take a look at the financial statement.
Just this one glance, he was also stunned.
"Do you still feel that the court will not agree?"
Li Ke glanced at Cui Yu and Cui Yuan, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
The influence of Five Surnames and Seven Hopes is indeed great, but no matter how great it is, it is not as big as real money!
It is impossible for the court to refuse the temptation to directly double Datang's annual fiscal revenue.
Hearing this, both Cui Yu and Cui Yuan fell silent.
All of a sudden, they lost the self-confidence they had when they came here, and all their self-confidence was crushed by this tax report.
Yes, how could the imperial court give up such huge commercial and tax benefits?
If they hadn't seen the real numbers before, the court might still refuse under the pressure of the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs.
But after seeing such impressive numbers, this possibility is already slim.
The plan to attack government schools through commercial taxation is likely to fail.
"Your Highness, I see that the merchants in Yangzhou are all wearing silk and riding in carriages."
"I heard that this is the right that His Highness personally promised to the businessman. As far as I know, this is against the law."
Cui Yu then changed his style of play again, and mentioned the businessman wearing silk and riding a carriage.
Perhaps the imperial court will agree to promote the status of the merchant in the future, but at this time the imperial court has not agreed yet!
At this time, Li Ke had already made the merchants wear silk and ride in a carriage.
This is clearly against the law.
"Oh? It seems that you came prepared!"
Seeing Cui Yu mentioning this matter, Li Ke couldn't help feeling a little funny.
If one way of playing is not good, there is another way of playing. I am well prepared!
"Come here, bring the imperial edict given to me by the emperor, and read the content to the two members of the Qinghe Cui family."
Li Ke directly asked someone to bring the imperial decree and read it in front of Cui Yu5.9 and Cui Yuan.
He just wanted Cui Yu to use up all his tactics, and then see what Five Surnames and Seven Wangs could do in the end.
If you don't let them despair, you won't be able to see their cards.
Soon, Wu Meiniang took the imperial decree and read it in front of Cui Yu and Cui Yuan.