Chapter 304 Beware of Scholars

Now that Li Xiang has come up with the solution, Li Shimin also told Fang Xuanling that it would be more appropriate for Fang Xuanling to do this matter. At least Fang Xuanling will not rebel, but it is hard to say for Li Xiang in the future.

Li Shimin gave some explanations to the others and asked them to go down, but he left Li Xiang for lunch. This has not happened for a long time. You must know that the relationship between the grandfather and grandson has been overt and covert for a while. , although they appear to be harmonious on the surface, only these two men know the actual situation.

"The condiments you sent are really good. If I didn't have these meals, I wouldn't be able to eat them at all."

There are not many dishes on the table. Unlike the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, who often had hundreds of dishes, Li Shimin was still very thrifty. There were only eight dishes for each meal, four meat and four vegetarian.

"Grandpa just enjoys his meal."

Li Xiang was holding the bowl with no intention of drinking, but Li Shimin still asked someone to pour Li Xiang a drink. Li Xiang couldn't figure out what Li Shimin meant now, so he tried to speak as little as possible.

"What's the name of your restaurant? I remembered it. The name Taiping Restaurant is the same as your title. Isn't the business good?"

Restaurants are a business that all major families don't attach much importance to, mainly because the profits are not very high, so Li Xiang took a chance and basically opened one or two restaurants in the capitals of 360 states across the country. There are more than a dozen stores opened in Chang'an and Luoyang, making a lot of money.

Li Xiang didn't think about taking the common people's route from the beginning, mainly because the common people only had a little money in their hands. These days, the common people just got food and clothing. Many families still drank porridge, and only had only Dabai steamed buns are only eaten during festivals, so Li Xiang can only follow the route of the rich, and the rich are where the money is made.

Li Xiang comes from modern society, and of course he knows what the 28/20 rule is. We won’t make 80% of the money. It’s not that he looks down on the common people, but he doesn’t want to compete with many small businessmen for profit, so Li Xiang Xiang had locked in the 20% from the beginning, and the restaurant’s prices also excluded ordinary people. The prices of several dishes were more than 100 cents. Can ordinary people afford it? Now you can buy two Huosha for one penny.

"My grandson pays taxes according to regulations, which is different from those people."

Li Xiang didn't understand what Li Shimin wanted to do, so he quickly picked it out. Nowadays, many bureaucrats also do business, but basically none of them pay taxes, and the court will not fight them hard.

"That's what I want to say. Let alone a child of the royal family, even a small county magistrate will try every means to evade taxes if his family has business. What do you mean?"

If Li Xiang hadn't mentioned the tax issue, Li Shimin wouldn't have been able to remember it, but when Li Xiang mentioned it, Li Shimin wanted to know more about it.

"My grandson also wanted to set an example by doing this, so that the officials and the gentry can share the benefits."

What Li Xiang said is a bit ahead of its time. You must know that it was only mentioned during the Yongzheng period. Throughout thousands of years of feudal society, officials did not pay taxes most of the time. Even if you have a Juren Even if you have a good reputation, the court will not ask you to collect taxes, so many businessmen like to put their business in the name of an official, so that they can save a lot of tax.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, society was more enlightened, and officials did not all do this. Small businessmen still paid taxes honestly. Of course, the proportion of commercial taxes was not very large. Agricultural taxes were the most important aspect, but then With the decline of the Tang Dynasty, this situation will become more and more serious, and the income of the imperial court will also be greatly affected.

Li Shimin didn't understand it at the beginning, but with Li Xiang's explanation, Li Shimin finally understood it. Li Xiang was preparing for a rainy day. If this kid becomes the emperor in the future, he may have to operate on the tax law, but Li Shimin didn't. No matter what, after all, this is for the sake of the royal family, and he is also the beneficiary.

"Your ability to set an example and pay taxes has indeed set an example for others, but does this make the royal family seem a bit mean and ungrateful? We need scholars to govern the world."

Li Shimin said hesitantly that there are still many great scholars in the society who oppose the imperial court. If it were to be implemented directly, it would really upset the scholar's cake.

"My grandson disagrees with my grandfather's idea..."

If someone else were to speak like this, Li Shimin would probably slam the table immediately. What does it mean that you disagree, let alone you? No one in the world would dare to go against the emperor, but Li Xiang is a talented person after all. In addition to being Li Shimin's grandson, some of his ideas did improve many of the shortcomings of Datang, so Li Shimin was also willing to listen to Li Xiang's opinions.

"If you have different ideas, just say it directly. We don't have to worry so much about each other. You can all go down. I don't need you to serve me anymore, so you can go down too."

Li Shimin said to the surrounding eunuchs and maids, and asked Wang De to go down too. You must know that Wang De is the chief eunuch. No matter how confidential it is, Li Shimin will keep this guy here. But letting him go down today means that something is wrong. Even he couldn't know. For example, if the incident of officials and gentry receiving food from one body was spread, it would be a shock to all the scholars in the world. Li Shimin didn't want to cause chaos in the world. Although he knew that Wang De was reliable, he was not as reliable as no one. .

Although Wang De was curious about what the grandfather and grandson were talking about, he was more worried about his own head. The emperor asked him to leave sometimes, perhaps to save his own head.

"Grandpa, we need scholars to help manage the world, but we do not manage the world jointly with scholars. Now the status of scholars is a bit high. Take some great Confucians, let alone ordinary ministers, including the children of our royal family. We need to respect them, but how can this be done? What if they drift away in the future, who will listen to whom?"

Now that this issue has been discussed today, Li Xiang must make it clear to Li Shimin that although the status of scholars in the Tang Dynasty was not very high, it was not low either. If it develops into the Donglin Party of the Ming Dynasty, they will cry. There is no place to cry, so you have to be on guard against everything, and pay attention to everything for the sake of imperial power.

When Li Xiang didn't say this, Li Shimin didn't feel the influence of these great scholars. But after Li Xiang finished speaking, Li Shimin did feel that it was a little too much, and the conversation became more and more interesting...