The ministers in the hall stood high and dry with all the trappings of respectability, but not every one of them was clean. Nobles with marquisate states and kingdoms might disdain such paltry scraps, yet they tacitly allowed those beneath them to take them.
In an age of absolute monarchy, expecting these people to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the common people was impossible.
The Han Court's principal economic framework had been established while Luo Xin held power, designed to restore the economy quickly. Commercial tax rates were therefore very low and largely symbolic, intended to ascertain merchants' assets and the flow of commerce throughout the realm.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, commercial tax rates had been raised somewhat. But because the state treasury had sufficient funds, the court had not enforced collection vigorously, and many merchants had secretly resisted, unwilling to pay the high commercial taxes.
These merchants truly were courting death. The transaction tax set by the court was not high, yet they wanted to evade even this, unwilling to pay taxes to the court. Greed had truly blinded their judgment.
They had forged a sharp knife themselves, pointed its blade at their own bodies, and then handed the hilt to the court. Never had anyone seen people so eager to court death.
Many of these merchants, however, had powerful figures in Chang'an City or the provinces sheltering them. The strongest of these patrons included lords king, princesses, and the most powerful high-ranking marquises; even the weaker ones included lesser high-ranking marquises and officials of every rank at court and in the provinces.
After all, in Great Han, without a high-ranking marquis or a lord king of sufficient reputation and standing behind them, anyone venturing elsewhere was certain to be devoured, leaving not even