Outer residence of the East Palace.

A series of slender fingers like green onion quickly moved the beads, crackling like a beautiful music. This is the servant room set up by the prince. It is only a patio separated from the bedroom, and you can hear it clearly with a roar.

According to the compartment, the prince ordered the attendant's room to be divided into sections one to three. The first department was responsible for daily documents, the second department was responsible for various storage and audits of various silver and grains, and the third department was responsible for communication between the outer residence and the palace and the outer court. To put it bluntly, it was just a errand.

Yao Tao was standing at the door of the second department at this moment, watching the female officials below dialing the bill and copying the data. She is now the seventh-rank official, and is named Gong Zhengsi. Gong Zhengsi is the institution responsible for the punishment of the palace forbidden atmosphere, similar to the Censorate of the Foreign Court, and has great power. Yao Tao lacks qualifications, and the TOEFL prince left the palace and obtained this position.

For a female official of her age, she is enough to be proud of her.

The female officials of the Ming Dynasty had two very important functions. One was to keep the seal of the Tianjia family. Even if the seal was used by the Lijian, they had to be transferred to Wen Shangbao and taken out by the female officials. They were definitely not placed on the desk and could be built casually. Tian Cunshan's official position was called the Donggong Seal, but in fact, he actually got the seal of the prince because he left the palace.

Another item is responsible for the order and record of the concubines who entered the imperial court in the emperor. Since the 22nd year of Hongwu, there have been full-time female officials in the palace responsible for this matter, called Tongshi. Later, Tongshi also took into account the sex education function of the East Palace. In the East Palace and before the prince's wedding, the "simple" princes learned about the affairs of men and women.

When Zhu Cixuan was in the palace, the wet nurse was released after weaning, and was surrounded by eunuchs. There were only two old ladies over 60 years old who were responsible for taking care of them, and they were nagging about "ancestor system" and "rules" all day long. Because they were scheduled to have a wedding next year, the queen sent these young and beautiful palace maids to prevent the prince from knowing nothing.

The first task of the prince giving these female officials and palace maids was to classify those who are good at writing as attendants in the first category, and those who are good at calculating as two categories, and to classify them with clever words, legs and feet diligently.

Female officials are different from eunuchs and do not have the Hanlin teachings who are both good at character and academic performance. However, they were already educated when they were selected to serve as female officials in the palace. According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu Gao, these female officials are all virtuous women who are innocent, know the truth, are good at female heroes, and plan the scriptures.

Even those palace maids who bought them must undergo cultural education in the internal supervision if they want to be promoted to female officials.

Therefore, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there are illiterate eunuchs of the Silijian, but there are no female officials who are not knowledgeable about literature.

Yao Tao was originally the head of a female official, but was appointed by the prince as the chief of the second section, and the scope of power and responsibility became unclear. However, this did not prevent her from doing her best for the prince. Anyway, there were many places where the power and responsibility of the Ming Dynasty were chaotic.

"Yao Dianzheng," a female official held the book and stepped forward, "I have already followed the order."

Yao Tao took the book, flipped through it, followed the secret formula in the palace, briefly reviewed the numbers, and said, "Let everyone rest for a while, don't rush to part. Come with me."

"Yes." The female official smiled.

Yao Tao knew that the prince and Eunuch Liu were still waiting, so he didn't say much and quickly walked towards the study. The female official followed her step by step, not daring to leave too far.

When he arrived at the entrance of the Prince's Study Room, Yao Tao stopped the female official and said, "You are waiting here." After that, the little eunuch inside had already called Yao Tao's name and asked her to go in.

The study room was brightly lit, and candles as thick as arms shone in the room as if it was daylight. Not only was the prince sitting on the throne waiting, but there were Liu Ruoyu, Wu Weiye and Zhou Jing next to it.

When Wu Weiye saw the female official, he seemed very surprised. He wanted to take a good look, but he did not dare to look directly at him.

Yao Tao didn't expect that there was a foreign official, and his heart was beating and his voice was trembling. She said, "Your Highness, this is a summary of the amount of funds raised today."

He followed the servants to take the book and sent it to the prince's desk.

Zhu Cixuan opened it, looked at the various summaries and the final total numbers, and chuckled softly: "I got five thousand three hundred taels in one night. My gentry in the Ming Dynasty is so generous and generous."

Wu Weiye was a little embarrassed to see whether the prince was talking sarcastic. Seeing Liu Ruoyu, Zhou Jing laughed and forced the corners of his mouth, but he was reserved and dared not move too much.

"You sit down." Zhu Cilang pointed at Wu Weiye's lower head and said to Yao Tao.

Yao Tao slowly walked to the seat and sat down Qianqian, but his mind was already blank.

Zhu Cixuan took a stack of paper from the table and asked the attendant to hand it over to Liu Ruoyu, saying, "The people on this list are all the officials who refuse to come and donate it. You go and hand it over to Wang Chengen. You can tell him directly that if you only send me to guard the tomb, the lonely family would be very unhappy. As for the property of these guys, I will share it with him."

Liu Ruoyu took the list and flipped it over: "Your Highness, can you give me a three-day reprieve? If there are still people who are stubborn, it will not be too late to surrender Thunder again."

Zhu Cilang raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Sure." He was also worried that Wang Chengen's people would bring rifts to the newly signed covenant.

Zhou Jing and Wu Weiye unconsciously looked at the other two stacks of paper on the table. There was a list of gentry and nobles who had not donated money. I think the prince would not only attack the eunuchs, but let these wealthy merchants and nobles who did not give him face. But they really couldn't think of how the prince would deal with these people? These people are not shameless. If they are forced to force themselves, they will sell things all over the streets, crying poor and miserable, as if they can't survive.

Even the emperor was helpless about this and had to give up the fundraising plan. Does the prince have any good ideas?

The prince patted his hands on two stacks of paper, and formed a stack, picked up a book and pressed it down, but did not leave it on the spot. He shouted: "Wu Weiye."

"I'm here."

"These gentry who donated money must send tax deduction coupons as soon as possible." Zhu Cixuan said: "In addition, the censors are probably going to talk nonsense again. You write a memorial to Your Majesty overnight, explaining in my name that the purpose of sending tax deduction coupons is to encourage the gentry to do good. At the same time, it is also necessary to make it clear that these gentry have tried every means to evade taxes and pay less than a few taels of silver a year. Now that they have to donate it, it is much more than normal tax collection."

"The prince is wise and better than nothing. This is a helpless move and a weighing strategy." Liu Ruoyu summarized the prince's behavior and flattered him.

Although Wu Weiye did not agree, from the perspective of the prince's aide, he did take the minority of the two evils. Although he exempted a lot of taxes, the tax could not be collected, which was not considered a loss.

Emperor Taizu Gao ordered a commercial tax of 30 per cent, which is 3.3% of the business tax. This was undoubtedly very preferential compared with later generations. Moreover, in order to prevent cruel officials from spying, Emperor Gao also stipulated that local officials who collected excess taxes would be punished. Therefore, for a long time, as long as local officials collected enough taxes in the Hongwu year, they refused to collect taxes.

With the increase of the total economic output and the prosperity of the commodity economy, the tax amount in the Hongwu period had long become a drizzle. Who would still pay taxes with backgrounds? The tax amount eventually fell on the small merchants.

"Write another official letter to the Ministry of Revenue," Zhu Cixuan continued, "Tell them that the money is considered an epidemic tax, and I will collect it for them. When there is any expense in the future, I will copy one for them, even if they have taxes and expenses."

The Ministry of Revenue has been urging to increase taxes and increase Liao salary since the previous year. Now the prince has helped them collect and use it, which is not unacceptable. What's more, the interception of taxation is the unspoken rule of the Ming Dynasty officialdom. The prince is very kind to announce it.

Wu Weiye is worthy of being the second-place winner in the national exam. He nodded slightly and had already set up an article framework in his heart. After that, he just needs to refine the words and polish it.
Chapter completed!