Chapter 129: Making Money and Cutting Taxes

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Yuan Qingcheng was beautiful as a flower and radiant as the moon, possessing both the gentle reserve of a classical beauty and the independent confidence of a modern woman; her slender, graceful figure should have made her a quintessential celestial maiden, yet she often wore coarse linen robes and braided her hair in a simple plait, giving her an overall natural and unadorned style that evoked the impression of a "pastoral fairy" untouched by worldly dust—her outward appearance blended perfectly with rural life, without the slightest discord.

Amid the bustling court, Yuan Qingcheng had built a tranquil, harmonious, self-sufficient pastoral world—rising with the sun to work and resting at its setting—causing Zhao Yu, immersed in the fast-paced life of the emperor, to feel deep longing and fulfill his yearning for poetry and distant horizons.

To be honest, sometimes Zhao Yu truly wished to spend just two days living Yuan Qingcheng's pastoral life, especially when court affairs were overwhelming and hearts were restless; he imagined himself temporarily shedding the burden of the dragon robe, donning coarse linen, walking along country paths, his feet sinking into soft earth, lush crops flanking him, the scent of rice and wildflowers lingering in his nostrils, the crisp chirping of birds and distant babbling brooks filling his ears, his soul finally resting and purified.

Yet reality was always leaner than dreams.

As emperor, Zhao Yu knew full well his mission, and even clearer that if he failed to strive, he might be captured by the Jurchens and exiled to the northeast, a fate worse than death.

So, living a pastoral life with Yuan Qingcheng? Zhao Yu could only dream of it.

Besides, being emperor wasn't just about unavoidable duties—it came with abundant rewards.

Leaving aside other matters, in terms of women, after merely half a year as prince and a year as emperor, Zhao Yu hadn't yet achieved the "hundred conquests" milestone, but he'd already completed most of it.

This was a height most men could never reach in a lifetime.

Moreover, Zhao Yu could swear every one of these women was untouched before him.

That alone was a dream beyond reach for the vast majority of men in his previous life.

Even more, the women he had won included the empress, the greatest female scholar in history, and four transmigrants.

If he weren't emperor, how could he ever have touched them?

But then again, precisely because he had gained so much, Zhao Yu sometimes had to make compromises.

Everyone assumed Zhao Yu had been bewitched by Cai Xuan's "Sea and Sky Banquet," a harem of over thirty beauties, which was why he lingered for days in her chambers.

Fine.

Everyone was right.

What normal man could resist the pleasures of the "Sea and Sky Banquet"?

But then again, Zhao Yu's prolonged favoritism toward Cai Xuan—until she became pregnant—was also politically motivated.

That political motive was undoubtedly Cai Xuan's father—Cai Jing.

As is well known, before ascending the throne, Zhao Yu had designed many reform plans; after becoming emperor, he faced numerous challenges: managing the Yellow River, constructing the Yanfu Palace, forming the Divine Machine Left and Right Armies, launching the war against Qingtang Tubo, rotating troops, establishing the patrol system to resolve surplus military forces, and even the annual one-million-guan agricultural research budget he granted to Yuan Qingcheng.

Implementing these required immense financial backing. Without money, no matter how grand Zhao Yu's political ideals, he could accomplish nothing.

By the end of Emperor Xu's reign, the Song Chaoting was nearly bankrupt.

Even at the start of Zhao Yu's reign, the Song Chaoting's finances were stretched thin.

How, then, in barely over half a year, had the Song Chaoting and Zhao Yu managed to sustain such massive expenditures?

This was largely thanks to Cai Jing.

After Zhao Yu delegated authority to Cai Jing, Cai Jing immediately began reforming the state monopolies.

Through Cai Jing's tea law reform,

this year's tea profits surged directly to two million guan—and this was only the first year.

Ye Shi Yun had calculated for Zhao Yu: within three years, this profit would reach four million min annually.

That was already five times the revenue of the late Emperor Renzong's reign.

After tea came wine.

During Emperor Xu's reign, the court had already seized one-third of the national wine monopoly profits.

Under Zhao Yu's reign, after Cai Jing's reforms, another third was added.

From then on, the bulk of wine taxes belonged to the court.

Compared to tea and wine monopolies, salt monopoly revenues had always far exceeded both.

Previously, the court had allocated most salt monopoly income to local governments—even after Wang Anshi's reforms.

But during Emperor Xu's reign, a problem arose.

The problem was: the Jie salt ponds were damaged, temporarily undermining local fiscal income.

The daily salt consumption of the people in Shaanxi and the capital region heavily relied on Jie salt.

Even at the start of Zhao Yu's reign, this problem remained unsolved.

Thus, Cai Jing shipped sea salt from Hebei and Jingdong to sell in the capital region.

Unexpectedly, this move yielded a profit of over one million five hundred thousand guan at a cost of merely 147,000 guan.

Cai Jing then fully opened his mind: he halted the state monopoly on salt in the major producing regions of Hebei, Jingdong, and Jianghuai, requiring merchants to purchase salt certificates and salt warrants exclusively in Dongjing Bianliang before selling salt.

As Ye Shi Yun calculated for Zhao Yu, this year's salt certificate revenue alone could reach over twelve million guan, and within three years, it could hit twenty-five million guan annually.

In Emperor Shenzong's reign, revenue from salt certificate sales had been no more than three million guan.

Under Zhao Yu's reign, salt certificate income had more than eightfold increased.

Yet Cai Jing was still unsatisfied; he proposed to Zhao Yu replacing jiaozi with qianyin, applying the same method to further boost court revenue.

Upon learning of this, Ye Shi Yun immediately opposed Cai Jing's qianyin reform, citing excessive harm.

Crucially, in Ye Shi Yun's view, there was no need to deploy nuclear-powered money printing yet—this economic policy should only be activated when the economy had collapsed to a critical point or when massive wartime funding was required.

Former-party officials repeatedly submitted memorials to Zhao Yu, asserting that stable currency was the foundation of economic prosperity and the guarantee of public peace.

Even if Zhao Yu knew little about economics, he understood: currency stability concerned the very foundation of the state—unthinkable to neglect.

After careful consideration, Zhao Yu entrusted Zhao Tingzhi with currency reform, with himself personally overseeing it (in practice, through Ye Shi Yun), while assigning Zhao Kai and Zhang Que—both skilled in currency issuance—to handle implementation; coupled with Zhao Tingzhi's conservative approach to currency reform, Zhao Yu believed his reign would avoid major currency instability.

Although Zhao Yu didn't expect revenue from currency reform, in fact, it brought the court considerable income.

Moreover, the three money-raising strategies originally proposed by Ye Shi Yun, along with subsequent supplementary economic policies, had also generated substantial revenue for the court.

Added to this were the vast incomes seized through anti-corruption confiscations.

Only then could Zhao Yu accomplish so much while still maintaining significant surpluses.

Notably, Zhao Yu's soap and glass were now also generating enormous profits.

Not long ago, Ye Shi Yun proposed another money-raising scheme to Zhao Yu: issuing lottery tickets, to help him support his household.

This meant that not only was the court during Zhao Yu's reign wealthy, but Zhao Yu himself was also very rich.

Unlike Emperor Zhao Ji of history, who began squandering wealth once he had it, Zhao Yu first issued an edict to exempt the six routes of Shaanxi and the Hebei region from land taxes for three years, exempt other regions affected by disasters this year from land taxes for one year, and reduce land taxes by two-tenths across all other parts of the empire, allowing the people to rest and recover.

Though not entirely, Zhao Yu had at least partially implemented the principle of taking from the people and using it for the people.

Seeing this, the old faction, which had previously opposed Cai Jing's radical economic reforms, found their opposition weakening greatly—now that the court had extracted wealth from merchants and returned it to farmers, they grew more at ease with Zhao Yu's support of Cai Jing's reforms.

In the countryside, although land consolidation had placed most land in the hands of high officials, noble families, scholar-gentry, and wealthy clans, since the Zhao Song dynasty was an agrarian society, farmers still constituted the overwhelming majority of the population, and land taxes remained one of the farmers' primary burdens.

Thus, Zhao Yu's reduction of land taxes directly benefited the vast number of farmers, alleviating their economic pressure and giving them tangible relief, allowing them to breathe easier.

Moreover, the benefits of lowering land taxes could not reach the high officials, scholar-gentry, or wealthy clans—they had never paid land taxes to begin with.

By the way, Zhao Yu specifically issued an imperial decree: anyone who embezzled the tax relief granted to farmers would have their family seized, their clan punished, and be exiled a thousand li—no leniency whatsoever.

When the vast number of farmers learned of this preferential policy, they not only felt profound gratitude toward Zhao Yu but also developed high expectations, hoping he would rescue them from their dire suffering.

Faced with such expectations, could Zhao Yu possibly go off to live a pastoral life with Yuan Qing Cheng?

So Zhao Yu withdrew his gaze from Yuan Qing Cheng as she walked far away, and continued on the path he must walk…

……

(End of Chapter)