"Long live...Long live...I deserve to die!"

Just as Zhu Youjian was thinking about how to deal with Concubine Li Kang, he suddenly heard a wailing sound like a pig slaughter.

He heard the sound and saw an old eunuch in the distance, kneeling on the ground and wailing, and was stopped by two Jinyiwei.

Zhu Youjian was very familiar with this person. He was Wei Jinzhong, who had taken care of Zhu Youxu and his son for more than ten years.

Perhaps this name is not famous for later generations, but if he followed the historical process, he would later be named Wei Zhongxian by Zhu Youxiao...

It was this Wei Zhongxian who laid one of the foreshadowings of the sudden death of the Ming Dynasty.

Although later generations said that when Wei Zhongxian was there, the border was stable and the tax revenue was...

But in fact, among the people of Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party, the Donglin Party advocated increasing commercial tax, and Wei Zhongxian was indeed the initiator of reducing commercial tax.

During the period led by Yang Lian and six others, the Donglin Party advocated the abolition of mining taxes, reduction and exemption of land taxes and increased commercial taxes.

The reason is very simple. The Donglin Party was relatively honest at this time, and they were not a township party, but a party organized by aspiring people from all over the country.

Before Wei Zhongxian's rise, their opponents were mainly Chu Party in Huguang and Henan, Zhejiang and Zhili in Zhejiang, and Qi Party in Shandong and Zhili in North China.

From the region, we can see that the Chu Party was born in a place where food is abundant, while the Zhejiang Party was a place where merchants were rampant, and the Qi Party was a place where salt and iron were abundant.

In addition to them, there are also some small parties, such as the Sichuan Party, the Fujian Party, the Qin Party, and other village parties that gather together with their hometown through geography.

They colluded with officials and businessmen below, exploited the people with big merchants, and distributed the taxes that were originally big merchants to the people.

That is, when paying the tax, the big merchants came out to take sides to pay the tax, and the people blindly followed. After paying the tax, the gentry and businessmen returned the tax in full, and the people's taxes were evenly distributed, and part of them was handed over to the court, and part of them was embezzled by the officials below.

In such a situation, the most painful thing is that the people are not only exploited by officials, but also by big businessmen.

Therefore, Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou advocated reducing land taxes, increasing commercial taxes, and miscellaneous matters.

Later generations thought that the Ming emperors did not know the potential of commercial tax, but among the Ming emperors, especially the Wanli, Zhu Changluo and Zhu Youxiao, they all knew the potential of commercial tax.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been using the Donglin Party all the time.

To put it bluntly, the Donglin Party was a good scapegoat. Even in the first four years when Zhu Youxiao succeeded to the throne, he was using the Donglin Party's ideas.

But such a problem began to end in the fourth year of the Apocalypse, and internal strife within the Donglin Party began to end.

Wei Zhongxian began to come to power, and he had a grudge against the Donglin Party, and he was the kind that never ended.

Just at this time, all the township parties were targeted by the Donglin Party, so they turned to Wei Zhongxian and formed the so-called "eunuch party".

If Wei Zhongxian wants to win over his subordinates, he will naturally give benefits. The most intuitive benefit is the reduction and exemption of commercial taxes and miscellaneous matters.

Wei Zhongxian gained the support of local merchants by reducing and exempting commercial taxes. In order to make money and flatter Wei Zhongxian, local village party officials spread the business tax on the original large merchants to the small merchants together with the large merchants.

After gaining profit, the great merchants and local officials began to build a temple for Wei Zhongxian to flatter him.

At this time, the Donglin Party had internal conflicts, and some people betrayed the Donglin Party and defected to the eunuch Party. Then they were purges of the Donglin Party.

Until the end of the seventh year of the Tianqi revelation, the Donglin Party, who was like Yang Lian and others, had already died and retired.

It can be said that since the seventh year of the Tianqi period, the real Donglin Party has died. Except for the small group of capable ministers and officials such as Xu Guangqi, Zhang Huangyan, Sun Chengzong and Lu Xiangsheng, the other officials are essentially the former eunuch party.

The late Ming Dynasty was already ruined, and it was very difficult to rebuild it, which was even more difficult than creating a new dynasty.

But Zhu Youjian had no choice. He had become a person in the center of power. Whether he wanted to be a idle prince or an emperor, he had to rule the Ming Dynasty alive.

He knew that Wei Jinzhong was not a good thing, but everyone had his uses.

Therefore, he did not fan the flames because he knew that Zhu Youxiao was essentially reluctant to kill Wei Jinzhong.

"Let him come!"

As soon as Zhu Youxiao spoke, the two Jinyiwei immediately let go. Wei Jinzhong also rolled over and crawled over, kneeling on the ground with tears in his nose and tears, and cried:

"Long live, I will die..."

"Hehe..." Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao sneered: "You are not wrong with this."

"I wanted to take the opportunity to rescue Long Live, but I didn't want Concubine Kang to give me a chance. I had to go to find Kebaba, but Kebaba had no choice but to do so. Fortunately, Long Live is lucky and will have a heavenly appearance..."

Wei Zhongxian sobbed, but Zhu Youxiao's serious expression on his face was slackened after hearing the three words "Kebaba".

Zhu Youjian next to him didn't say anything when he saw this change, just because he understood the importance of "Qibaba" to Zhu Youxiao.

Kebaba is the so-called Keshi. She entered the palace at the age of 18 and took care of Zhu Youxiao as a wet nurse for 16 years. There was no incest slandered by later generations. After all, with the inner court system, this could not happen.

For Zhu Youxiao, Keshi was no less than her true adoptive mother after his biological mother died.

Even Zhu Youjian himself was not sure that his status was higher than Keshi in Zhu Youxiao's heart.

He will not stand up at this time, and he will not do things that are not sure about.

Once he makes Zhu Youxiao unhappy, maybe the plan in his mind will not be realized.

There are too many things that brothers have to separate their status as women, friends, and Zhu Youjian will not bet on his own life.

He stood behind Zhu Youxiao in silence, while Wang An glanced at him with a little surprise in his eyes.

Being able to advance or retreat is a prerequisite for the struggle between the inner court and the political struggle between the outer court.

First put yourself invincible before you have the chance to win.

His silence was not noticed by Zhu Youxiao, because Zhu Youxiao's thoughts were already on Keshi at this time.

He thought for a moment and then spoke to Wei Jinzhong:

"Tell Kebaba, let her stay in the Neijing well. After a few days, I will summon Kebaba again."

"Long live the oral order of me, long live the oral order of me..." After hearing this, Wei Jinzhong knew that he didn't have to die, so he kowtowed and knocked out a red mark on his forehead.

"Okay, you can step down." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and asked Wei Jinzhong to leave without seeing each other.

"I took my leave..." Wei Jinzhong, who saved his life, repeatedly bowed his gratitude, then bowed down while bowing, and finally disappeared.

When Zhu Youjian saw that he had left, he also spoke to Zhu Youxiao:

"My brother was tired last night and couldn't have a good rest. Now let's go to the palace to have a good rest. I will go back to Xuqin Palace to rest first."

"The national mourning will begin after noon. I will go back and rest first."

"Yeah!" It seemed that because Zhu Youjian had arranged everything, Zhu Youxiao was not as uneasy as before. He nodded and said:

"My brother has a lot of rest. Wang An will do the funeral."

"Then my brother has surrendered..." As he said that, Zhu Youjian slowly took a few steps back, and then took Wang Chengen to leave the Lord's Palace.
Chapter completed!