Chapter 221: The Urban Management Team Is Here! (2 / 2)
Having achieved what he wanted, the Emperor casually asked, “Does anyone else have suggestions?”
In the ensuing discussion, many ministers voiced their opinions, proposing around seventy to eighty suggestions. Ultimately, only two were approved.
The first was the establishment of military medics in the army.
During wartime, there were naturally military doctors accompanying the troops. However, once the fighting ended, those doctors would withdraw. In peacetime, if soldiers wanted medical treatment, they either had to pay out of pocket to see a doctor, endure the illness while waiting for the emperor to show benevolence by sending imperial physicians to the camps, or rely on the general to request an imperial physician from the court.
Now, with the new arrangement, military camps would have resident doctors available to treat soldiers for free, and a certain amount of medicinal supplies could be obtained free of charge from state-run pharmacies in each prefecture.
The second provision was tax exemptions for families of soldiers who died in battle. Families that had lost their adult male members would be exempted from land taxes for three years. If, after three years, the household still lacked an adult male, the exemption would continue, extending up to a maximum of ten years.
At first glance, it seemed like a heavy burden on the state, but in reality, even without the newly discovered gold and silver mines, the court could easily afford it.
After all, the exemption only applied to land taxes. Other taxes, such as the child poll tax, adult poll tax, labor replacement tax, and property tax, were still in effect.
Additionally, there were various other taxes, such as: families having to periodically provide silkworm cocoons to the government; taxes on mined copper and iron, calculated based on yield; timber taxes for cutting down forest trees; fishing taxes; and even feather taxes for capturing birds.