The farmers under Li Ze were undoubtedly happy.

Because they now bear the lowest taxes they have now since the establishment of the dynasty. Even when the Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous, they never enjoyed such treatment.

The reason why Li Ze did this was just for one reason, to solve everyone’s food and clothing problem first.

Letting the people fill their stomachs is the most basic question of whether the court can be stable. Anyone who cannot solve this problem is not far from collapse.

Without farming, the four words clearly illustrate this issue.

The farmer who can eat his stomach is definitely the most obedient and docile group of people in a dynasty.

Since he could not plunder the farmer, Li Ze could only attack the merchant.

The merchants of the Tang Dynasty are definitely the heaviest class in the Tang Dynasty. The commercial tax has increased from the initial ten taxes to the current ten taxes and three taxes.

But not only did the merchants of the Tang Dynasty not rebel, but instead became increasingly supportive of the court under Li Ze's control. Why?

It's very simple, it's nothing more than an equivalent exchange.

First, Li Ze greatly improved the political status of the business class.

In the past, merchants and merchants had a worse position than farmers, and had many restrictions on them. Li Ze abolished these things. Just one thing, the children of merchants enjoyed the same right to study and become officials as others, which made many merchants cry.

Second, expand wealth. After consolidating his rule, Li Ze released the privileges of many large-scale transactions originally controlled by the state and allowed merchants to join them. At the same time, he vigorously expanded overseas trade. The Silk Road reopened and the long-distance fleet was endless, which were all profit-making industries.

The tax paid by merchants seems to be extremely heavy, but compared to their income, they are not unbearable. Compared with the past, their total assets are even increasing steadily year by year.

For Li Ze, if you want to collect more taxes, you need to stimulate the development of industry and commerce more vigorously.

So even though he knew that some merchants were doing something bad overseas that was lawless, Li Ze pretended not to know. From the report of the Inner Guard, it can be seen that merchants are expanding their territory in many places overseas. They hired a large number of veterans to arrive overseas, and in some places they gathered large areas of land to grow sweets, boiled sugar, and then transported the sugar back to China for fine processing. When the rubber industry just emerged, some people started doing this business in places with suitable climates. Some people even started farming overseas. In some places with suitable climates, they could plant three seasons a year. Those who worked for them were undoubtedly equivalent to slaves.

In this process, it is naturally filled with blood and tears.

However, Li Ze is not a Bodhisattva, so he doesn't care about these people now. For him, as long as these merchants who returned to China pay full taxes according to the requirements of the country, and then spend some money to help the local government pave the roads, bridges and schools, they will be good citizens of the Tang Dynasty.

Any country has its original accumulation, always full of blood.

After our Tang Dynasty is truly prosperous and stable, let’s talk about human rights in these places!

The major event that Li Ze is concerned about now is the great cause of unifying the world in China. If the world does not unify the world, it will not be said to have brought the Tang Dynasty back to the top of the world.

Second, he wanted to create a stable external environment for the Tang Dynasty, and to achieve this goal, Tubo must be destroyed, and the Western Regions must be stable. The northern desert must become a buffer area for the Tang Dynasty.

After finishing all this, Li Ze dared to say that the Tang Dynasty had already taken the first step on the road to prosperity.

It is undoubtedly the most cost-effective to complete the first step of external expansion by businessmen.

The nature of a businessman is profit-seeking.

With 30% profit, they dare to take risks.

With 100% profit, they dare to gamble on their wealth and life.

When the profit reaches a few hundred percent, they dare to try it out.

Li Ze deeply understands this.

In China, the laws were constantly improved to restrain these merchants, but outside the Tang Dynasty, these laws lost their effect. It was not that Li Ze did not want to have a long-arm jurisdiction, but that he now needed these merchants to use their money to complete things that were inconvenient for the Tang Dynasty as a country.

"Li Xiang, the Wuyi Chamber of Commerce has intervened in the civil war in Japan!" Gongsun Changming put an internal secret report in front of Li Ze. "Their purpose is to control Shi Jian Yinshan. As of now, their purpose is about to be achieved. The two sides are negotiating to exchange the full support of the Wuyi Chamber of Commerce for the ten-year mining rights of Shi Jian Yinshan."

The Wuyi Chamber of Commerce is undoubtedly the most powerful chamber of commerce in the Tang Dynasty today, because behind them are some prominent figures. For example, the former governor of Hezhong Prefecture Gao Lei, former senior official Wang Duo, etc. These people are not only rich, but also have official backgrounds. They can always get things that others cannot do. For example, the Tang army eliminated an astonishing number of weapons and armor every year.

The Wuyi Chamber of Commerce is a circle. In addition to those who defected to Li Ze very early, all the rest are upstarts after Li Ze took power. This circle cannot be entered by money. For example, the Liu family in Hedong has tried their best to enter Wuyi's business district, and with their financial resources, they cannot join it. What it means to enter this circle is naturally clear to the Liu family in Hedong, who has been at the top of this food chain for a long time. So now, they are trying to save the country in a curve through marriage. Several of the daughters of the Liu family are now preparing to marry into some people in this circle. The children of the Liu family are also preparing to marry the daughters of some families in this circle. They don't care about their appearance or the legitimate and illegitimate children, as long as they can succeed.

The Wuyi Chamber of Commerce is undoubtedly the top circle in the Tang Dynasty today.

"Boxing Trading Company suffered a great loss in Europa this time. The goods were swallowed and hundreds of people lost. He heard that Yelu Fengze was furious and had organized a larger fleet to recruit sailors and retired troops, preparing to counterattack. He even asked the general to buy artillery. Tuhu was not sure whether he should sell it or not?"

"The Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce is preparing to deepen its roots in the United States, but what's interesting is that this time, the ones who joined the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce were actually some maritime merchants in Fujian. In recent years, they were unable to go out to sea, and the fleet was almost sunk by us. They finally couldn't help but start to lose to us. Although these Fujian maritime merchants have been tragically punished by us in recent years, their financial resources and power are still considerable. If they also start to fall back on their feet, I think this is a good phenomenon."

"Sell, why not?" Li Ze slapped the table, "but the price can be ordered high. Mr. Gongsun, I think we can issue private certificates to these ships going to sea."

"Private certificate?" Gongsun Changming suddenly didn't react.

"It is to allow them to legally rob everyone except our Tang Dynasty." Li Ze grinned and said, "Of course, we have to send people to supervise their fleets. The court will share half of the private property."

Even a person like Gongsun Changming, who was without any taboos, was a little shocked when he heard Li Ze's sudden idea.

"If this matter is spread, I'm afraid that Li Xiang's reputation will be hampered." He hesitated. "It would be fine if you do it secretly. The court issued a private certificate for public robbery, which would be a public robbery."

"I need money." Li Ze spread his hands and said, "Mr. Gongsun, you can see what Chang'an is now. It's in ruins. If the Central Plains are in the past, it requires a lot of investment. Although the Western Regions belong to us in name, they are still poor and doomed. If they don't invest heavily, they will inevitably cause trouble in the future. Xue Ping and the others have already had direct contact with those great cannibals. Both sides may enter a state of war at any time, and we must never lose this territory. This is related to the strategic security issues of our Tang Dynasty in the future. By the same token, Tubo must also be eaten. Now Tochar is braided, but Delhi Chinan has unified Tubo, and it will be a matter of time before it completely turns against us. It will not be possible to rely on those serf uprising troops alone. Li Cunzhong's army will enter Tubo, and then we will have to send more troops to enter, which also requires money."

Li Ze glared at Gongsun Changming: "Where does the money come from? We cannot exploit the people under our rule. We have finally established a reputation in the hearts of the people. We cannot fall down because of these, so I can only ask for it."

Gongsun Changming was speechless.

Li Ze's plan was too grand, far exceeding Gongsun Changming's previous estimate.

"I'm a little worried about the end of the day when these caravans sell artillery and allow them to form military organizations overseas!" Gongsun Changming expressed his concerns. "Once there is something really wrong, they will either be on the sea or far away in other large souths, and they will be out of reach, so what can they do?"

"How to control them is the affairs of the Supervisory Office. This should not be difficult for you, right?" Li Ze smiled and said, "You can discuss this matter with Yang Kai. I hope that one day, these civilian armed merchant ships will transform into the invincible navy of my Tang Dynasty. Then again, as long as we become stronger and stronger, who is willing to give up holding such a thick thigh? They are the group of people who have the most knowledge of our national strength. They know very well what the outcome will be like if they betray them."

Gongsun Changming nodded slightly.

The door was gently knocked, and Li Peng was in the heretic: "Li Xiang, Li Shangshu of the Ministry of War, asked for a meeting."
Chapter completed!