Datang: Li Shimin begged me to rebel

After Hu Zhi left, Li Ke waited for almost half an hour before 22 businessmen were invited into the reception room.

This time, there were more people in the reception room. Unlike Hu Zhi, the identities of these people were more complicated. They almost had intricate relationships with various powerful families.

"I have seen His Royal Highness King Qin."

"Excuse me, everyone please sit down." After Li Ke asked everyone to sit down, he smiled and said: "Actually, just now, I met a colleague of you, a businessman, a businessman from Guangzhou."

When Li Ke said this, everyone present guessed who this person was almost immediately. After all, everyone was impressed by the highest price at the hidden bid auction before. Very attractive.

Although some people may not have reacted at the time, most people must have reacted afterward, knowing why the businessman surnamed Hu paid such a high price, and now that Li Ke has met the other party, it is obvious that the other party's goal has been achieved.

"Everyone should have probably guessed who it is. In fact, I invited you here this time to discuss with you the future of Datang Commercial." Li Ke said with a smile.

"His Royal Highness, please speak, and all the ministers will naturally obey." The oldest man in the crowd, who seemed to be about 60 years old, said.

"You're welcome. Since it's a discussion, everyone can speak freely. In fact, since the 19th year of Datang last year, I have been thinking about one thing, and that is the importance of business to a country."

"It can not only promote the circulation of goods, but also assist Datang in the flow of materials and strengthen the circulation of materials between various regions. Most importantly, more and more commercial activities can create a lot of jobs for Datang In this way, in some areas that are not suitable for farming, people can use labor instead of farming to obtain income to support their families."

"In addition to these, the circulation of commerce will also make the country more and more prosperous. Of course, there is a premise for all this, that is, business activities must be taxed like farming." Li Ke said calmly, What to say to whom.

For those who can basically control it, there is no need to say more about paying taxes, and they will not hesitate, but for those who have deep entanglements with powerful families, they have to say it in advance.

Firstly, the news might be passed on to those who want to know through their mouths, and secondly, it is actually telling them that I, the King of Qin, want something from them.

If you want but don't know how to stop, you will lose what you want; if you have something but don't have enough, you will lose what you have.

Almost all businessmen who were able to do this in ancient times understood this truth.

What you ask for, you get.

There is no such thing as a pie in the sky, and these businessmen understand this truth deeply.

When Li Ke said the word "tax payment", the faces of the 22 people were relatively calm, and a few people's faces changed slightly, but they were all calm.

But none of them took the initiative to speak. Obviously, everyone heard that Li Ke had something to say later.

"As a businessman, as I once said, I hope that there will be more patriotic businessmen in Datang to stand up, but at the same time, those who hold salaries for everyone should not be frozen to death in the snow. As an outstanding patriotic Businessmen, we can't just ask them to give and get nothing."

"So, I made a suggestion to my father, to expand the scope of imperial examinations in the world in the future, not only from the gentry, but also to merchants, craftsmen, and common people." Li Ke said calmly.

Just such a sentence from Li Ke made the 22 people present unable to sit still.

This... Li Ke hit the weakness of all of them at once.

They are all people who have achieved wealth and freedom to some extent, and such people, what they pursue is the promotion of their own "class", even though Li Ke has gradually eliminated this huge gap between classes, but They don't know, at least in the sense that they think, that they are about to move up their "class."

And what Li Ke said was to give them a step up.

If merchant families can also participate in the imperial examination, do they still need to entangle with some powerful families?At that time, even if Datang collected business tax, how much it could collect was so little compared with their annual "payment"!

For them, this part of "expenditure", who is it not for?And the Tang court was willing to even grant them the authority to open the imperial examination for them, and they paid the tax!

"Your Highness, just as His Highness said, I think it's normal for a patriotic businessman to pay business taxes." It was the same old man who was the first to express his opinion without holding back.

The others looked at each other, it...as if they had no reason to refuse?

"Your Highness, the ministers are also willing to pay the commercial tax." Others also expressed their voices.They are different from the aristocratic families. The aristocratic families are at the peak. They can control the official channels of Datang, they can control a large number of family members to carry out commercial activities, and they can control many people who are farming in the world.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, because of the land equalization system, the influence of the aristocratic families on the common people was reduced to the minimum, but the land equalization system of the Tang Dynasty was actually under the condition of accepting the private ownership of land by the royal family, bureaucrats, and aristocratic families. The state owned most of the land, and then distributed to farmers.

In fact, this is similar to the family contract system of later generations.

But there are some differences.

But now the aristocratic family has reduced the minimum to the common people because of the land. If their commercial power can be cut off at this time, it means that they can only take the most high-end way in the short term.

When the imperial examination system is completely reformed, it is also the beginning of the complete demise of the power of the powerful family. Unlike those who violently cut off the powerful family in history, Li Ke's move is to dig out the roots.

The harm to the country is the least. Similarly, at least there are people who are sensible, so you don't have to kill so many people.

"Well, I believe that all of you are patriotic businessmen, and you must be willing to pay taxes according to the regulations. However, you also know that the imperial examinations I mentioned cannot be done overnight. Of course, I am in the court. I believe you should have heard some of the disputes with the ministers."

"I can't influence the imperial examination system of the imperial court, but I can sponsor different exams, and then select outstanding talents, and join them in various industries of Datang from another angle, such as excellent craftsmen, for example The editorial department of "Datang Weekly", for example, the Datang Chamber of Commerce and the ocean-going fleet that will be launched next."

"But for exams, there must be excellent students. Therefore, I have proposed the establishment of schools in the world before." Li Ke said with a smile.