CH 212

The meeting continued to discuss the issue of money.

The burden on the empire is currently very heavy. This year's economy is worse than last year's, and the global economy is also in a downturn. Those who used to invest heavily in war on the western continent are now all caught in a huge economic crisis and can only focus on themselves.

Since losing control of the Bayi Canal, the empire's foreign trade has relied almost entirely on maritime transportation.

Since the economic crisis in the western continent, maritime transportation has greatly declined, which has dealt a heavy blow to the empire.

The two sudden wars have also greatly increased the empire's consumption. In addition to the ongoing battle for control of the Bayi Canal, the empire is simultaneously maintaining three wars, and its economy is already stretched thin.

The compulsory fundraising initiated by Emperor Li Longxing last time eventually received 10.2 billion, but it is almost depleted today, and the war is still like a bottomless pit.

Where does the money come from?

The Director of the Imperial Finance Bureau proposed three options.

First, printing money.

Second, issuing war bonds.

Third, collecting taxes.

Printing money has already been done five times this year. The empire has printed money four times, reaching the theoretical limit.

Printing money again will inevitably lead to a significant devaluation of the currency, and the economy will be even worse next year.

However, printing money still has great temptation. It is the simplest and fastest way to solve the crisis, and the benefits of war may offset the harm of currency overissuance.

But after intense arguments, this option was rejected.

The crucial vote came from Emperor Li Longxing.

Li Longxing knew very well that the upper echelons of the empire, the financial magnates, families, groups, financial tycoons, and high-ranking officials, all had countless ways to resist inflation and transfer harm and losses.

Printing money actually harvested the wealth of the lower class.

Nowadays, the pressure of the empire's economy is almost entirely on the lower class. Harvesting the meager property of the common people will only lead to more tragedies.

The second option was to issue war bonds, which was directly rejected.

The painful memory of the last massive issuance of war bonds resulting in the failure of the war has not faded from the memories of the elders.

Only the last option remained, collecting taxes.

But how to collect this tax has been a huge problem over the years.

The political entities and interest groups represented by the elders are all different, and any method of taxation will result in losses for one side. It can only be temporarily shelved.

The last agenda: the empire's economy and internal affairs.

This is the longest and most important agenda.

Li Longxing used to sleep during these discussions because there would be no results due to the serious disagreements among the elders.

But this time, something was different.

When Elder Lin Yabo once again proposed his system of aristocracy, citizen ranking, and legalized slavery, he unexpectedly gained support from many people.

Yu Zhongxian and Moxili being allies was not surprising, but why would Elder Ren Zhengqing, the leader of the Capitalist Party, and his staunch governor of Mingzhou, Ge Guangling, also support Elder Lin? Elder Luo and Elder Xu Chengguo did not express clear opposition either.

This situation was not good. Li Longxing originally planned to pay a high price to stop this proposal, but Elder Wang Wengong vehemently opposed it.

He believed that slavery and citizen ranking were a huge disruption to reform and were backward systems. Only backward and barbaric countries like the Adriano Papal States would implement such systems.

"The empire is noble!"

He concluded in his final statement.

"The nobility of the empire does not come from the nobility of the upper class, but from the equality born after the Shengwu Reform 180 years ago."

"Whether a person is base or noble is not determined by birth and bloodline, but by character and ability."

"Otherwise, the traitor Wu Jingtang would also be a nobleman by birth."

Li Longxing knew that Elder Wang Wengong was the leader of the reformists and the most staunch opponent of imperial power. He had repeatedly obstructed the expansion plans of the imperial faction, and the imperial faction hated him to the bone.

Li Longxing also didn't like this person very much. Many of his reform ideas were too idealistic and almost impossible to implement in the empire.

However, Wang Wengong had a large number of supporters among the lower class of the empire. Many knowledgeable individuals and talented people of the empire joined his ranks, making him the undisputed leader of the empire's reformists.

But in the upper echelons of the empire, he was isolated and had no support. His ideas had no appeal to the upper class, which was his biggest weakness.

Li Longxing decided to secretly help him.

He coughed and said, "I think he is wrong. People are born with a hierarchical order, and the emperor is naturally noble."

He spoke about the divine right of imperial power and its supreme authority. As expected, in the subsequent vote, no one supported Elder Lin Yabo's proposal.

Every elder was well aware that the reason they had their current power was derived from imperial power. If imperial power increased, their power would decrease.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread.com".

This was the most irreconcilable contradiction.

Only the Grand Elders were different. They simultaneously held the attributes of elders and the Senate, and their fundamental purpose was to eliminate differences, maintain balance, and uphold the stability of the empire.

Afterwards, the highest council discussed the economic situation in various regions, as well as the implementation of imperial policies and institutional reforms.

Despite facing criticism from various sides, the Grand Elders still affirmed the achievements of Yaojing and promised to give certain preferential treatment in policies.

The focus then shifted to the reforms in East Qin Prefecture. Yu Zhongxian and a large number of Sheng Huaixuan's opponents strongly criticized his reform system, believing that he maliciously changed labor relations and caused the loss of effectiveness in vibrant social organizations. The direct government organization and management significantly increased administrative costs.

Setting a minimum weekly wage and equating it with the minimum wage was seen as malicious competition, setting a very bad example for various regions of the empire.

"If the previously peaceful common people start to revolt, it will all be his responsibility!" summarized a political supervisor.

There were also criticisms such as restricting government officials from engaging in business, not allowing the military to intervene in economic affairs, forcibly acquiring private enterprises, and unauthorized sale of imperial enterprises.

They launched a comprehensive attack on these measures.In their mouths, Sheng Huaixuan quickly became a tyrant and cruel ruler.

And all of this was because his power as the governor was too great, and he demanded that the empire take back his "total control" power and implement democratic reforms in East Qin Prefecture.

Li Longxing nodded, "I think the empire also needs democratic reforms."

This topic was too big, and no one dared to respond. The responsible political supervisors wisely avoided it and only attacked Sheng Huaixuan for being cruel and evil.

In the end, under Li Longxing's proposal, the elders reached a resolution. Sheng Huaixuan immediately paid a fine of 670 million and wrote a guarantee, admitting his mistakes and promising never to repeat them.

After the resolution was issued, the atmosphere in the meeting suddenly changed, as if a silent door to a new world had opened before them.

The imperial officials exchanged secretive glances, as if they had discovered some unspeakable secret.

Afterwards, the highest meeting suddenly turned into a fine meeting, and any accusations against any state were resolved with fines.

As a result, some political supervisors loyal to the emperor attacked and criticized, and the elders who suffered losses were not willing to be the only ones affected.

In the end, out of the 29 states of the empire, except for Zezhou's rebellion, all were fined, with a total amount exceeding 10 billion. Even the elders had smiles on their faces.

Before the meeting ended, Yan Gao, the director of the Imperial Taxation Bureau, suddenly came out and claimed that Changshan County was illegally smuggling gold, with an amount reaching tens of billions.

Although there was no evidence for a while, Yu Zhongxian took the opportunity to reveal a lot of dark information about Changshan County, vigorously portraying how innocent and kind the gentry and wealthy people killed by Changshan County were, and how sad and painful their relatives were. The mobs who gained happiness at the expense of others' pain.

Although it was digging up old accounts, Changshan County had offended too many people recently and immediately came under attack.

While they were being criticized, Li Longxing quietly handed the production and construction report of Changshan County to the four elders and whispered, "The production and construction of Changshan County have been growing rapidly, and it has absorbed a large number of laborers, nearly 500,000, which is one-third of the county's population."

"The stability of the empire has contributed to it. If we rashly impose sanctions on it, once the economy of Changshan County collapses, the empire will suddenly have 500,000 more unstable factors. What should we do then?"

Li Longxing understood the thoughts of the elders very well. Their core was stability and balance.

Now there were constant small rebellions throughout the empire, and even Rock State had a large-scale rebellion. Although the governor of Rock State, Chang Shengkai, repeatedly claimed to have suppressed it, it always suddenly revived, and the bandit leaders he executed repeatedly came back to life.

There were people in the streets who gave Chang Shengkai the nickname "Necromancer" to mock his absurd behavior.

When the news reached the highest Elder Council, the four elders were very angry, thinking that it had damaged the face of the empire.

They immediately dispatched political supervisors and inspectors to investigate and ordered them to quickly suppress the rebellion.

Not only that, but the western part of the empire had always been prone to rebellions, but due to the poverty and underdevelopment of most areas and the lack of information, it generally had little impact.

But now, even the prosperous and developed eastern regions showed signs of instability. A large number of departments in enterprises were laying off employees, and the empire's unemployment rate reached a new high, and public security rapidly deteriorated.

The elders were very worried about the disruption of the empire's order. More than half of the empire's troops were stationed in various places instead of being sent to assist in the war because of this.

Therefore, the elders quickly agreed with Li Longxing's words.

As a result, the resolution regarding Changshan County was formed undisturbed.

"Changshan County has been a chronic illness on the empire for years. Its new sheriff, Lin Wen, used some radical means to complete the reforms, which is understandable."

"However, the gold tax is the fundamental tax of the empire. Changshan County needs to make up at least 360 million in taxes."

"Order the director of the Imperial Taxation Bureau, Yan Gao, to handle this matter. There must be solid evidence, fair and strict procedures, and no embezzlement or tax evasion."

"I hope Sheriff Lin can continue to work hard and eliminate the chronic illness, bringing a healthy, stable, and well-developed Changshan County to the empire."

As soon as the highest meeting ended, Li Longxing immediately returned to the palace and contacted Sheng Huaixuan through an encrypted phone, informing him of the contents of the meeting.

"The plan needs to be accelerated."

Li Longxing warned.

"Lin Yabo and Yu Zhongxian have already taken the lead. They still don't know the core of your reforms. If they find out, the elders will never tolerate it."

"I understand."

Sheng Huaixuan's voice came through the phone, low and deep.

Li Longxing fell silent for a moment and said, "I didn't mean for Changshan County to separate from East Qin Prefecture."

On the phone, Sheng Huaixuan suddenly laughed, "Longxing, I understand now. This is actually a good thing."

Li Longxing instantly understood his old friend's meaning, "So you deliberately didn't contact the official authorities of Changshan County."

"Yes."

The two fell silent for a moment.

Li Longxing sighed, "Is Yuchen doing well with you?"

"He's doing well. He has started his own company and is doing quite well."

Li Longxing nodded slightly and changed the topic, "I plan to send someone to support Yang Jiewei and Philip. Who do you think is better?"

"Li Linyue."

Li Longxing fell silent for a moment, "Why?"

"It will make the Twin Stars completely lean towards her."

"But that will only make her more arrogant. She will never see where her foundation lies and what she should do."

"This is already the best result."

"But what about that child? This Emperor's Tower is my prison. I want to break it and destroy it, to gain freedom and everything. She grew up outside the prison with freedom since she was young, but all she thinks about is how to get in!"

"I think you can marry her to Lin Wen."

"What?"

"Lin Wen has an incredible belief. He can change the people around him. Li Yuchen has changed a lot after coming back from him. I believe he can change Li Linyue too."

Li Longxing fell silent for a while."Alright, but that girl might not accept it. Once she chooses her husband, the princess faction will lose at least half of its core members. And I need to meet that boy. Damn it, the empire's first princess, the most dazzling pearl of the empire, I didn't even dare to touch her, and now he gets to."

The voice of Lady Governor Li Huaixiu came from the phone, "Sister, sister! You need to come quickly, His Majesty is acting up again!"

A voice as deep as a tiger's growl asked, "What did he say this time?"

A series of soft whispers followed.

Then a massive roar came through, "Li Longxing, are you itching for a beating again?"

Clatter.

Li Longxing wisely hung up the phone.

He turned to the royal guards beside him and said, "You all, for the next few days, say that I am feeling under the weather and need to rest in bed. I will not see anyone."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"