In May, the third year of Chongzhen.

Capital.

More than two months have passed since the Later Jin army entered the pass and plundered, but the capital is still shrouded in a dull and depressing and sad atmosphere. Many people's white banners have not been removed yet. When the night is quiet, people can still hear the sound of crying.

The Tartars invaded outside the pass at the end of last year, which caused too much damage to the capital. Zunhua, Yongping, Luanzhou, Qian'an and other cities were destroyed. The generals and generals were killed and captured more than ten people, Santun camp was captured, and the main force of the Ming army's field battles around Shuntian Prefecture was wiped out. The number of casualties exceeded 70,000, and more than 100,000 people were looted.

Not to mention that almost every family in the capital wears mourning, the entire capital is full of wailing, as if they have experienced the doomsday.

In the Palace of the Forbidden City.

Emperor Chongzhen, a young man who was just 20 years old this year, was also hit hard in the face of such a huge failure and fell into a state of doubting his life.

Didn’t Yuan Chonghuan say that he was very good at fighting and could pacify Liaodong and destroy the Later Jin Dynasty in five years?

The court is not full of righteousness, and the wise and gentlemen of the Donglin Party are not all pillars of the country, and are they capable enough to support the world?

The eunuch party led by Wei Zhongxian quickly eliminated and cleaned it up as soon as he ascended the throne. While dealing with the eunuch party, he confiscated his home and obtained a lot of silver, enriched the national treasury. In addition, some silver accumulated during the Tianqi period, he cheered up the Ming Dynasty and wanted to achieve confidence and confidence that was comparable to Yao and Shun's achievements.

Even to save more money.

He briefly abolished the Jinyiwei, abolished his eyes and ears, and later found that he could not do it and recovered, but he could no longer achieve his previous ability, and his understanding and control of all parts of the country were greatly reduced.

He also cut off post stations across the country, just to save 300,000 taels per year, which caused a postman named Li to become unemployed and had to join the rebellious peasant army. He was in a state of chaos in the mountains and Shaanxi.

All the money that they had finally saved was handed over to the ministers of Donglin and to Yuan Chonghuan, whom they strongly praised and recommended.

What's the result?

What did his sincerity and unreserved trust bring?

Yuan Chonghuan has been removed from prison. Zhu Youjian gritted his teeth in private to this liar who was talking nonsense. He has made up his mind to kill him, and no one pleaded for mercy.

In addition, he also realized that the Donglin Party was not available, such as Qian Longxi, the chief minister of the cabinet. They made generous speeches when impeaching someone to make suggestions, saying it was very clear, but neither it was to resist the Later Jin Tartars or to eliminate bandits, they could not come up with an effective strategy.

He couldn't think of a way to increase the income of the court. Instead, he only knew that he wanted money here and there, but he emptied his internal affairs and could not solve any problem, which made the problem even worse.

Even though Chongzhen was a fool at this time, he understood that the Donglin Party was a group of guys who could only talk and make noise.

Besides, he is not stupid at all. Although he is very young now and has a little impatient personality, he is really not a person who can fool around at will.

And after anger.

For example, a gambler who lost completely after slaughtering, now a new problem is in front of Zhu Youjian: What should I do next?

Inside the Huangji Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian once again summoned the cabinet chief Cheng Jiming, Zhou Yanru, Wenyuan Pavilion Grand Secretary, He Ruchong, Dongge Grand Secretary He Xiangkun, and Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue Bi Yongguang, the Minister of Personnel Wang Yongguang, the Minister of Works Cao Yugu, the Left Censor of the Censorate, Liang Tingdong and other ministers gathered together to discuss state affairs.

The most important thing to discuss is the old financial issues. After all, Zhu Youjian, a young man now, has basically gone bankrupt, but there are a lot of messes to be cleaned up. He has to train troops to clean up the Later Jin that has just brought shame to the empire, collect taxes to help the frequent natural disasters in various places, and completely wipe out the bandits in Shanxi, and the She'an riots in Sichuan and Guizhou have not been completely quelled...

The problems that are placed in front of you are like a large ship with water leakage on all sides, bringing great pressure to the young emperor.

"Cei Ge Lao, Zhou Aiqing, all the ministers, can you think of a way for me to add some money to the court, suppress the bandits internally, and pacify Liaodong externally, without money. How can these major things be done? Please teach me, ministers."

Zhu Youjian swept the bottom and humbly asked for advice.

"Your Majesty, the national treasury is empty, natural disasters are frequent, and the people are in trouble, and they are really unable to afford taxes. The court has almost no possibility of increasing income. It can only be lower than Your Majesty, love the people and save money, and lay off excess palace eunuchs to save expenses, so that they can spend more silver."

The prime minister Cheng Jiming repeated his previous views.

"I only have two dishes and one soup for each meal. I wear clothes sewn by the queen and concubines for me. The palace eunuchs have been sacked several times. How else do you want me to save? How much money can I save?"

Zhu Youjian patted the chair and stared at Cheng Jiming with resentment, very dissatisfied with his proposal.

"The old minister is guilty, please punish him."

Cheng Jiming quickly knelt on the ground and apologized.

"Does Zhou Aiqing have a good idea?"

Zhu Youjian shook his head and had to look at the second auxiliary Zhou Yanru, who he trusted most now. He no longer had any hope for the unhelpful fate of becoming a fundamentalist.

"The only tax increases!"

Zhou Yanru and Taoism: "There are more than 51.6 million hectares of land in the world. If you only need to add three cents per mu to get more than 1.5 million taels of silver. With 15 taels of 100,000 elite troops can be trained, and then you can first conquer the bandits and then destroy the Later Jin Dynasty. At least five years and ten years, then the additional suffrage will be cancelled, so that the people can rest and restore their strength. If the king and ministers work together and everything goes well, the people will only need to endure for a while, and finally the hardship will be over."

"There is not much additional levy for three cents of silver, it is only equivalent to levying one liter and two rice per mu, which is not burdened by the people."

"Secondly, for tax-heavy places such as Jiangnan and Huguang, the examination efforts of officials in various places can be increased to see how their collection is completed. Assuming that a county will collect 10,000 taels, those who complete more than 90% will be awarded, and those who complete more than 80% will be awarded, and those who complete less than 70% will be punished, and those who complete less than 70% will be punished... With this examination method, county officials in various places will be responsible for their duties and solve the problem of the lack of money in the court."

Zhou Yanru immediately proposed two methods that sound very feasible.

"good!"

Zhu Youjian nodded. He is worthy of being a capable minister who he values ​​and trusts, and is much better than those like Donglin.

"Your Majesty, no, this is drinking poison to quench thirst."

Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, had to stand up and say: "If there are signs of decline today, floods and droughts in various places are frequent, and the people are extremely suffering. Local officials are corrupt and corrupt officials are rampant. The most urgent task is to reduce the burden on the people, reduce taxes in disaster areas, allow the people to recuperate and restore the people's strength. If you fish in the lake and kill chickens to get eggs, the court will only add three cents. In order to complete the collection, the local people will add three points or even higher. The people in Gansu and Shaanxi have rebelled. If you do more, the people will not survive. The whole country will raise the blame, and there will be more rebels."

"this……"

Zhu Youjian hesitated and said, "Can the people not bear the tax in Jiangnan and the wealthy land of Huguang?"

"The people in Jiangnan and Huguang are already under heavy burden. 80% of the taxes in the imperial court come from the second place. If the tax is increased, the officials below will suck bones and marrow. No matter how rich Jiangnan is, they cannot afford it. I heard that the people in many places in Jiangnan have fled from other places because of their heavy taxes."

Wang Yongguang, the Minister of Personnel, said that he was quite familiar with the situation in Jiangnan. The people in the south began to flee. In addition to the clerks knocking on bones and sucking marrow, he did not say that there was another reason, that is, due to the increase in taxes, a large number of people devoted their land to the names of gentry, and the trend of offering was rising. If taxes were added, more farmers would choose to contribute and would not be able to collect any taxes.

Zhu Youjian didn't know what to say, and he also knew that the people were difficult and the people were suffering. Is it still difficult for him to be in the current situation? Add a little more burden and grit your teeth and endure for a few years. Is this really not possible?

"Can you add some commercial taxes? I heard that there are many wealthy private households in the Ming Dynasty, and there are many wealthy businesses in the broad-minded industries. The luxury trend is prevalent. Can you add more commercial taxes to make merchants endure for how many years?"

He had a flash of inspiration and wanted to watch the merchant's head.

"No, merchants are also His Majesty's people, and they should not be exploited too much."

"Your Majesty, the former Emperor Shenzong is good at wealth and sent eunuchs to exploit them wantonly and compete with the people for profit everywhere. The lessons must be learned."

"Although merchants are lowly, they are also indispensable. If merchants are too burdened and the court increases tax by one or two liang, they will make more than ten or one liang of extra taxes from the people, causing soaring prices and causing greater harm to the people. Your Majesty, please think carefully."

"Scholars, peasants, industry and commerce are the foundation of the country. It is the source of 90% of the tax. Merchants pay very little taxes, less than 10% of the tax, and even if the commercial tax is increased ten times, there will be less than a few taels. If the farmer's foundation is damaged by the commercial tax, not only will the commercial tax not be collected, but the farmers will also rebel, and they will lose all their money."

“…”

At this moment, except for Zhou Yanru's failure to advise, all the ministers strongly opposed the imposition of commercial tax.

It took more than two hours to discuss.

The meeting ended with nothing.

...

Walking on the way back to the harem to rest.

The young emperor Zhu Youjian, who was very mentally and physically exhausted, asked Wang Chengen, the eunuch who was beside him, and said, "Da Pei, do you know who the richest person in the world is? Can commercial tax be collected?"

"Your Majesty, the richest people in the world are those merchants. I heard that there is a Xujiazhuang in Nanzhili. The owner of the village, Xu Yuan, is rich enough to rival the country. The most popular glass mirror in the capital with tens of thousands of taels of silver, came from this village. It sells thousands of noodles every year, not including soap, sugar, watches, lighters, etc."

Wang Chengen told the truth about what he knew.

"Xujiazhuang, Xu Yuan?"

Zhu Youjian muttered and wrote down the name.

As for the new things such as waiting glass mirrors and soaps, he heard a little about it. In the harem of Concubine Tian, ​​there was a waiting glass mirror in the bedroom of Concubine Tian. It was sent by her father Tian Hongyu from Yangzhou to buy it and send it to Chengqian Palace. It also brought soaps, shower gels and other items. I remember that during that time, Concubine Tian was always fragrant. Zhu Youjian was very fond of her and stayed in Chengqian Palace for several months.

Later, Empress Zhou and other concubines also used soap, shower gel and other objects, and their bodies were fragrant. In addition, Concubine Tian was pregnant and it was inconvenient to sleep with her, so the rain and dew were evenly affected.

As for the glass mirror waiting for the body, under the advice of Empress Zhou, he asked Concubine Tian to sell the mirror and switch to a small glass mirror to use the extra silver for military expenses. Concubine Tian felt sorry for this for a long time, which made Zhu Youjian feel very guilty because he couldn't even satisfy his beloved woman.

I thought of the Xujiazhuang, which is rich enough to rival a country.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help but have unrealistic fantasies and said intimately: "Can I start collecting this commercial tax from a wealthy like Xu Yuan first?"
Chapter completed!