After bidding farewell to the richest man Zheng Zhilong and his senior brother Zheng Sen, the gentle breeze and drizzle in Nanjing City has almost stopped. Zhu Cixiang and the little beauty Zheng Chagu rode on horseback. Under the protection of layers of guards, they took the horse path of Yifengmen Wengcheng to the inner city wall of Nanjing, and then walked along the city wall towards Taipingmen.
The reason why we have to walk through the city wall is because the western part of Nanjing is too prosperous and lively in this era. The actual population living there has long exceeded one million, and industries are booming, industry and commerce are developed, and the streets and alleys are full of flowers on both sides. There are all kinds of transactions, and it is very difficult to be vigilant. Zhu Cihong also did many things to offend the Jiangnan gentry. He was afraid that someone would harm him and did not want to walk on the busy streets, so he simply walked through the Nanjing city wall. Fortunately, the city wall of Nanjing is wide enough, so there is no problem for horse racing on it.
When riding a horse on the city wall, because there were the prince's guards holding the horse for him, he didn't need to look at the road. Instead, he was condescendingly observing this big city that belonged to him. It is already afternoon, and the golden sunshine is shining from the sky, covering the bustling city with a golden veil, giving people a feeling of gold everywhere.
In fact, this feeling is not wrong at all. Nanjing is indeed full of gold!
Under Zhu Cixiang's eyes, this city is naturally the most powerful. Shortly after the Spring Palace Competition, under the auspices of the chief minister Wei Zaode and the newly appointed Yin Songquan of Yingtian Prefecture (formerly the Minister of Justice), it became the first city to impose strict commercial taxes!
The city's commercial taxes are divided into four categories: over-tax, residence tax, liquor tax, and ship tax. Among them, taxation is to set up tax cards at the water and land checkpoints in Nanjing City to collect taxes from vendors who sell goods. The residence tax is a tax on shops and workshops in Nanjing City. The wine tax is a monopoly tax. Following the method of the Song Dynasty, the right to sell wine was granted to thirty-eight wine shops, called thirty-eight wine shops. The boat tax is a tax on the painted passenger boats in Nanjing City. Most of these painted passenger boats belong to the Qinhuai Fireworks House. One trip on the boat can earn the income of a small person in Shengdou for a year, so a small tax is not a big deal.
Add one yuan for the four major categories of business taxes, and the monthly income is 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver! Half is given to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and half is spent by Yingtian Mansion itself.
So now Yingtian Mansion has nearly 40,000 taels of silver a month to spend on commercial taxes, and life is very comfortable. The petty officials who were not in the mainstream are now busy with a salary of several taels of silver a month. ...
Of course, the "commercial tax" of 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver a month is not only not a burden to the merchants who make a living in Nanjing, but is also something they are very happy to pay.
Because in the era of "no taxation", the corrupt officials in Nanjing Hecheng had to spend money to honor their nobles, and the money they spent was more than the commercial tax!
Although he had paid commercial taxes, Zhu Cihong kept a close eye on him. He appointed Ji Kun, a notorious Yangzhou ruthless official, to serve as the supervisory censor of Yingtian Mansion, and also asked Huang Zongxi, the newly appointed official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to take charge of the investigation of the officials of Yingtian Mansion. Bit eliminated...
In short, in today's Yingtian Mansion, the one who hates Zhu Cixiang the most, and the one who hates the treacherous Prime Minister Wei Zaode the most is a group of low-level officials who are "unable to make a living" - the bad guy who presided over the "Chongzhen New Deal" is Wei Zaode, he He is now recognized as a traitor, and memorials to impeach him are sent to Nanjing every day from Shandong, Huguang, Guangdong and Guangxi, and Fujian, places that Zhu Cihong still cannot fully control!
However, the traitor prime minister is not afraid of impeachment. As long as Zhu Cixiang, who supports him, doesn't get hurt by Xiaoxiao, his position will be as stable as a mountain.
When Zhu Cixiang, who was living an increasingly cautious life, came down the horse path at Taipingmen, the Taipingmen area was under complete martial law. This city gate is located in the north of the imperial city. Ordinary people are not allowed to come here, and there is no business. After entering the city gate, turn a corner and you will find Bei'anmen Street. The two sides of Bei'anmen Street were originally very cold and desolate with no buildings. Now they are a bit lively, with many construction sites appearing one after another. From near Taipingmen to outside Bei'anmen, they are all conferred titles by senior officers of the New Army.
When Zhu Cihong rode his horse to the vicinity of Bei'anmen, he suddenly heard a faint crackling sound. He frowned: "Is this the new army outside the city doing target practice?"
"Master Chitose, this is the sound of firecrackers." Zheng Teagu heard it clearly, "It came from Bei'anmen."
"Inside Bei'anmen..." Zhu Cixiang thought for a moment, "Who from the guard camp is holding a happy event?"
Inside Bei'anmen is the barracks of the left and right Yulin guards. The left and right Yulin guards have long been gone, so the barracks have been classified as guard camps.
The officers and soldiers of Zhu Cihong's guard camp were rotated, and they were all old troops drawn from the new army that had overcome difficulties. Naturally, Quan Quan allotted fields around Nanjing, and also allotted homesteads and built houses in the eastern part of Nanjing's outer contours.
After having a house and land, of course you have to marry a wife and have children.
Therefore, during this period of time, people often set off firecrackers and distributed fruits in the barracks area of the guard camp, and Zhu Cixiang always gave people a red envelope of eighteen taels of silver to win people's hearts.
But he didn't remember giving out red envelopes today. Did he forget?
Qin Mingtao, the new head guard, immediately stepped forward and replied: "Master Qiansui, there is no happy event in the guard camp today."
"Then these firecrackers..." When Zhu Cixiang said this, he saw Huang Xiaobao running all the way out of Bei'anmen.
"Master Qiansui, I wish you a happy marriage." Huang Xiaobao said "happy" in his mouth, but there was no trace of joy on his face. Instead, he looked sad.
Your expression is...Zhu Cixiang was stunned, "What happy event?"
"You have an extra brother..."
"I have an extra brother..." Zhu Cixiang also frowned. It is indeed...a happy event! I have a younger brother, and Emperor Chongzhen has a son. What a joy! There is a successor to the Ming Dynasty!
"Who gave birth?" Zhu Cixiang asked again.
"It's the waiter Wei Xuan!"
Wei Qinghui was not the only one with a big belly in Emperor Chongzhen's harem. There was also Wu Wanrong who was about to give birth, and there were several big girls from Shandong who were also pregnant.
Soon, Zhu Cihong will have a lot of younger brothers and sisters... He will help his younger brothers to start a family and start a business, and each of them will have to give them a share of glory and wealth! And he, the elder brother, has to pay for the dowries of the sisters!
Emperor Chongzhen was responsible for the birth. No, it wasn't him, he was responsible for planting the seed! All money spent from now on will be Zhu Cixiang's fault... How irresponsible!
...
"Hahaha... Brother Chun, you are here just in time. Come, come, look at your brother. You are Brother Da Chun, and he is Brother Xiao Chun. Look at how handsome he is. He is much prettier than you were when you were young. It looks much better..."
Ever since his son seized power, Emperor Chongzhen has never been so happy as he is today, not because he had a son, but because he defeated Zhu Cixang on the issue of having a son! No, not just once, he could keep winning. Because he has more wives than Zhu Cixiang, and more of them are pregnant, so the probability of having a son is also higher!
He was the emperor, and all the sons he gave birth to were princes. Even if he was not granted a title outside, Nanjing would still have to be given a palace, a salary, and land. Therefore, every time a son is born, a traitor will lose a fortune. If the rebellious son cannot give birth to a son, then one of his younger brothers may inherit the throne in the future... It makes me happy to think about it!
Chongzhen was happy, and Zhu Cixiang was of course even more "happy". He smiled and took his brother from Chongzhen's hand, and held him in his arms. The little guy closed his eyes and fell asleep. Zhu Cixiang took a closer look and found that he didn't look good at all, the color was wrong, he was red, and he was also very fat... I wonder if he will be as fat as King Fu in the future? By the way, King Fu has no son, why not adopt this child to King Fu? In the future, someone will be able to provide for Fat Fortune King until his death. Well, that’s it!
Chongzhen looked at Zhu Cixiang's stiff smile and said with a smile: "Brother Chun, you have to hurry up... don't always stare at Wu Sanmei, Ning Xiangyu, Fei Zhen'e, Zheng Chagu They are all rare beauties!”
