In the prehistoric times, I was the Emperor of Heaven

After reading the reform plan, Xu Shu praised Liu Bian sincerely and said:

"His Highness's understanding of the court system and officials is unmatched by me. His Highness's reform plan is very good. According to this, officials should be clearly defined in their powers and responsibilities, and the phenomenon of blame-shifting will be eliminated, which will greatly improve administrative efficiency.

The independence of the judiciary makes the judiciary more fair and strict. The addition of prosecutors and censors can check the prefects and captains and prevent them from becoming bigger, which is conducive to the rule of the court."

Although he had just been appointed as the prefect, he had to divide and restrict his rights, but Xu Shu was not short-sighted.

He saw the benefits of doing so from the reform plan, which would definitely help maintain the rule of the court and strengthen the imperial power.

Xiang Although the power of the prefect has been weakened compared to the past, the prefect is also more focused and will have more time to spend on civil affairs, thinking about people's livelihood, etc., and supervising the officials below.

This is good for both the court and the people..

After Xu Shu expressed his opinion, Zhang Liao continued:"Civil affairs, military affairs, justice, and supervision are independent of each other. The four giants of the prefect, the county lieutenant, the criminal inspector, and the censor supervising the county check and balance each other.

His Highness's reforms will be extended to the towns and villages. The imperial court will directly manage the villages and towns, which greatly strengthens the imperial court's rule."

After saying this, Zhang Liao paused and said with some hesitation:"But if this happens, will it be a huge burden to the court and make it unsustainable?"

Zhang Liao is a little worried.

In Zhang Liao's view, the most shocking thing about Liu Bian's reform is the reform of townships. Many yamen of the imperial court will be established in the townships to directly manage the townships.

Looking at the Kyushu countries, the imperial court The rule basically stopped at the county, and the rule over the towns relied on the local squires. The reasons for relying on the local squires were, first, the huge power of the local township clans, and the second was the consideration of the cost of the court's rule.

If the court wanted to strengthen its rule over the towns, it would inevitably It would be too expensive to set up government offices like counties and counties. The world is so vast and there are so many towns and villages. Once it is implemented, there will be too many additional officials, even larger than the county and county levels. It will be a great blow to the government's finances. It is a huge burden and unsustainable.

Because the cost of direct management of towns and villages is too high, the court has to rely on local clan forces to maintain the stability of towns and villages.

County governments sometimes have to compromise when faced with town and town issues in exchange for The support of local clans also contributed to the growth of local clan power.

Xu Shu naturally thought of the issues raised by Zhang Liao. As the governor of Suguang County, he would naturally be willing to strengthen the management of villages and towns, but he was afraid that the finances would not be able to afford it. , and finally gave up halfway.

Soon he thought about the establishment of city supervisors and tax officials mentioned in Liu Bian's reform plan. Could it be that he wanted to rely on commercial taxes, but could only commercial taxes satisfy him?

Commercial taxes are the real issue. If the court raises taxes, will merchants go bankrupt or leave, leading to a commercial depression?

More importantly, it is difficult for the court to supervise the business transactions. This cannot be solved by setting up several court departments, and in the end a lot of manpower is wasted. Although he had material resources, he could only collect a little business tax, which was not worth the loss.

How could Liu Bian not know the concerns of Zhang Liao and Xu Shu?

"Don't worry, I have considered it."

When the two of them heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up, and they stared at Liu Bian with keen eyes, wanting to know what Liu Bian could do.

"Now the main fiscal revenue of the imperial court comes from agricultural taxes, and commercial taxes are very small. However, we have hundreds of millions of people and many monks in the Han Dynasty. How much do we spend on foreign purchases?

Not to mention the food and clothing expenses of ordinary people, the elixirs, spiritual rice, spiritual materials, animal meat, magic weapons, etc. that monks need every day are astronomical.

There are many shops in the city, and there are groups of caravans coming and going. Many caravans take risks and walk in the wilderness. If they don't make money, then what are they doing?

But the imperial court could only collect a little business tax, which was extremely unreasonable."

Liu Bian said categorically.

Xu Shu and Zhang Liao naturally knew what the prince said and agreed very much. The Han Dynasty had a large population, a vast land and abundant resources, and prosperous commerce.

But business taxes were difficult to collect. In the past, many people wanted to reform and ended up with nothing. The resistance is too great.

Compared with agricultural taxes and poll taxes, which are directly linked to land and people, monks can't run away from temples. They can be collected in a fixed amount, but commercial taxes cannot.

One is that many merchants are members of powerful families. Or they support agents behind the scenes, and collecting business taxes is cutting off their flesh, which is a huge obstacle.

The second is that the court cannot supervise the business transaction process, and it cannot be tied quantitatively like agricultural taxes and poll taxes. The effort and harvest are not equal, and the gain outweighs the loss.

Even if the prince The establishment of a city supervisor to allow all merchants to register and operate; the establishment of a tax supervisor and a special armed tax collection guard still cannot solve the problem of supervision of business transactions.

On the contrary, it is the powerful families who hinder this approach. Now Suguang County does not exist because of the Taiping Road The rebellion plowed through the powerful families in Suguang County.