A civil servant like Xue Guoguan has never seen artillery fired since he became an official, and he has never had the opportunity to observe it with the naked eye at close range. The ten consecutive rounds really frightened the prospective father-in-law and made his legs weak. , walking with a slight limp.
For military commanders like Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, this kind of thing has long been commonplace, and they wish that the explosion power would be as powerful as possible, so that they can defeat the enemy. This humble mortar is indeed a rare weapon.
In order to appease his father-in-law and the civil servants who had never seen a battle, and to celebrate that the prototype vehicles and mortars that had been rushed out had passed the test, a certain prince made an exception and allowed everyone to drink a bowl of wine at noon.
But don't drink too much. In the afternoon, you have to go to see the palace examination. If you drink staggeringly and talk loudly, the students will see it and think that all the court officials are a bunch of drunkards.
There is no need to hold a court meeting at the moment, but it is also a working day. Due to the rebellion in the capital camp, the scheduled rest day has been postponed indefinitely. All troops stationed inside and outside the capital are on standby around the clock, ready to deal with possible changes at any time.
The search for tea merchants in the city was still going on. Either a shrill scream was heard, or a runner was injured by a bow and arrow. A certain prince stipulated that he could only be captured alive and taken back for interrogation. He could not be killed on the spot, otherwise he would be killed and silenced. He embezzled family wealth.
For those stubborn tea merchants, Yao Ji did not have any sympathy or mercy for them. If they were so rich and still had no money, there could only be one "chicken" in the entire Ming Dynasty, and all the "iron roosters" who disobeyed the holy will would die.
"Your Highness, the fifteen tea merchants who have paid back all the taxes they have evaded for fifty years want to see you!"
Yang Jinchao waited until the prince was having dinner before reporting the incident, so as not to affect his master's appetite.
"...Well, declare it!"
This bunch of ignorant tea merchants are really thirsty without seeing the toilet. They are just a bunch of goods that need to be cleaned up. Isn't this true?
"Cao Min comes to see His Highness the Crown Prince and wishes His Highness a thousand years! A thousand years! A thousand years!"
They couldn't do anything else but just slip away this congratulatory message. Fifteen people actually said it neatly, just like some singing groups, with no hint of what was going on. Could it be that they had rehearsed it in advance?
The first batch of five people paid up their taxes. When they were released by the jailer, someone immediately followed up, so ten more people were released. It was too late for the rest to follow suit.
Because a certain prince did not need so many tea merchants at all. The number was too large and difficult to manage. Just a dozen of them were enough. Any more would be a hindrance to himself.
"Okay, it seems that you are all sensible people and know how to choose between advancement and retreat. Since you are willing to listen to my advice, I have no intention of pursuing it. Starting from next month, the business tax will be 10 taxes and 2 taxes. You all must Pay accordingly.”
Yaoji didn't let these diligent people get up immediately. Those who were qualified to sit in the East Palace were all important officials of the imperial court. Those who were qualified to stand were either chambermaids or general guards.
These tea sellers once had the audacity to evade huge amounts of taxes. Let's kneel down for a while to clear our heads and avoid being stupid again.
"Please take a look at it, Your Highness!"
Yang Jinchao respectfully presented a booklet, which contained the taxes paid by the families of these fifteen people. The lowest was more than 50,000 taels, and the highest was close to 200,000 taels.
Some colleagues may have much more than this, but they had no chance to make friends. The whole family was "raped" by the factory guards, and they deserved to die.
"Cao Min must do his duty and operate according to the law!"
"Cao Min will never dare to evade taxes from now on!"
Fifteen tea merchants paid a total of more than 1.3 million taels of silver. Although there may still be something hidden, and the clerks still profited from it, a certain prince did not intend to pursue the case further.
Yaoji handed the book back to Yang Jinchao and motioned him to circulate it to the courtiers. The ministers who saw the amount of silver looked shocked.
There is also a list of the amount of Zijin bonds purchased by each family, which can be regarded as a personal "investment certificate" for the prince. It starts at 50,000 taels and has no upper limit. The highest family actually bought 300,000 taels. This is really rich.
All tea merchants buy ten-year bonds, but they dare not take them out when they expire. They don't even think of asking for interest. If they exchange one for one, whoever takes out the money will have their own heads cut off. Send it in.
After Yaoji read the content on the paper and saw the servile and flattering tea merchants' deliberate greetings, he chuckled, picked up the teacup beside him and said: "Haha! I want to come here to be kind and compassionate. , I will not severely punish you easily, but some people should not think that I am weak and incompetent. From now on, if anyone among you continues to fool me, I will let the factory guard help him eat this tea cup , let this person know the meaning of 'porcelain cup for love'!"
A certain prince plans to collect one million taels from tea tax alone every year from now on. If this goal is not achieved, then the houses of the tea merchants will be ransacked and one million taels will be extracted whether they live or die. In short, no matter what method is used, they must Squeeze one million taels out of the tea business.
"Pa~!"
After saying that, he threw down the teacup in his hand and smashed it to the ground, breaking into dozens of pieces of different sizes. The tea merchant kneeling on the ground was so frightened that he shivered. The frightened expression was the same as what Mr. Chief Minister had seen in the morning. Not much different when it explodes.
All the ministers were very surprised by the new interpretation of "compassionate", but they were relieved when they thought about the taxes evaded by the tea merchants. What they saw in front of them was just the tip of the iceberg, and the part that was confiscated was the real big deal. .
"Of course, I will not blindly suppress you. There is nothing wrong with pursuing business and profit. As long as you sell tea in the future, there will naturally be benefits. Originally, there were many tea merchants in the capital and it was difficult to manage. From now on, I will allow it. You fifteen tea merchants are selling tea in the city, and tea merchants from other places are not allowed to join unless specially approved. If there are other things besides selling fake tea, evading taxes, reselling Donglu, etc., I will naturally come to you fifteen! After returning, you can set up an industry association to uniformly set the wholesale and retail prices of each type of tea, clearly mark the prices, and not deceive customers. Select a president and two vice presidents to be responsible for representing all tea merchants in meeting with me. If If something happens, I will also summon the president to discuss it."
Since I have paid the protection fee, I have to give you some sweeteners. The market in Beijing has been monopolized by fifteen of you, but you cannot raise the price of tea for no reason.
Not only cannot it be increased, but the selling price must be appropriately lowered to pass on profits to customers. This is also giving a certain prince three points of thin noodles. We cannot increase prices as hard as before.
If this plan can be implemented smoothly, the management area can be expanded to the entire Shuntian Prefecture, thereby effectively controlling the movement of tea from land routes to outside the customs.
Although the Imperial Navy is currently stronger than its Donglu counterparts, it is still unable to restrain the rampant furniture activities at sea. They still need to meet with Zheng Laofi to discuss an effective countermeasure.
On the route from Jiangnan to Liaodong, the three most popular commodities are tea, salt, and grain. In addition, silk, porcelain, powder, and medicine are also popular.
There is another commodity that is in great demand, and that is wrought iron, especially refined iron. When it arrives in Liaodong, it can be immediately exchanged for cash, because it can be used to make Hongyi cannons.
For Braid, there are two ways to obtain strategic materials. One is to enter the customs and plunder, and the other is to wait for the seller to deliver it to your door.
Therefore, in the opinion of a certain prince, if the situation is allowed to develop like this, Braid's strength will only become stronger and more difficult to deal with. As time goes by, it will become a problem to raise a tiger, not to mention that the tiger has grown up.
As long as Zheng Laofi is given enough benefits, the Zheng family's fleet dispatching a warship will be enough to blockade the northern Yellow Sea and strengthen the management of the ports in the south of the Yangtze River.
Any merchant ship that dared to break through the blockade, did not lower its sails and slow down after the imperial warship fired its cannons, and still sailed north would be sunk, and those who fell into the water would be punished as treason against the enemy.
"Okay, I have said almost everything that needs to be said. The rest depends on your performance. If you perform well, there will naturally be rewards. If you perform poorly, just think about how you can do it for yourself. Come on, let’s all kneel down!”
The money is collected, the benefits are given, smart guys know how to do it, and guys who think they are smart will also know how to do it. In less than a year, you can see the results, life or death, it all depends on a single thought.
As a reward, a certain prince gave each of the tea merchants a bowl of beef ramen. The taste from Ouchi really made them want it. Many people came to see them after having lunch in advance, but they still ate all the noodles. Not even any soup was left.
After eating the royal meal, it is necessary to praise it, and it is indeed delicious. If there was such a noodle shop in the city, everyone would eat there every day, and a bowl of noodles would cost two or three yuan.
Summoning tea merchants can only be regarded as a side job for digestion. There are two serious things today. In the morning, they will test the "semi-propelled artillery" and randomly check the mass-produced mortars. In the afternoon, they will take a look at the situation of the palace examination, especially the students. their answer sheets.
"Your Highness, there are 772 students taking part in the palace examination this year, and they have all completed their responses. The Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy are working hard to approve the answer sheets!"
The two yamen mobilized nearly a hundred people to participate in the review. Each person had to review seven or eight test papers. It took more than ten minutes to review each paper, and it took more than ten minutes to review them all.
The first, second, and third questions are all fill-in-the-blank questions, either geography or calculation. The answers are clear at a glance. If you write an error, you will be deducted points. It is easy to answer.
Starting from the fourth question to the last question, it is more difficult to solve. Issues such as taxation and capital relocation are very difficult. Candidates will go astray if they are not careful.
Especially the sixth question, about what goes up and what goes down...
The candidates' answers were really varied and surprising.
"hehe!"
Yaoji randomly picked out a test paper from a candidate, looked at it, and couldn't help but laugh.
His answer is - the beams are at the top, the threshold is at the bottom, the east room is in the east, the west room is in the west, the fat meat is fat, the lean meat is thin, the skin is thin, and the stuffing is thick!
It seems that a certain prince is really speechless. You can't say that his answer is wrong, because just looking at his answer, it does mean the same thing and is correct.
"..."
Wu Di, the second assistant in charge, took it over and looked a little embarrassed. Who really taught him? The answer to the question is so philistine. This is a palace examination, and the test paper has to be read by the Holy Emperor. It is really stupid and insulting to politeness.
This could only be the "masterpiece" of another member of the Imperial College. The quality of these students varies greatly, and now that the examination paper has been read by His Highness the Crown Prince, it really brings shame to the Imperial College.
Yaoji pulled out another batch-numbered paper from another table. This candidate's handwriting was very beautiful. He answered all the first three questions correctly. When it came to the fourth question, which was about taxation, the answer was: We firmly oppose the imposition of three taxes.
"... Our dynasty has been based on farming since the beginning of the dynasty. Emperor Taizu Gao encouraged merchants to operate with low taxes. Today, this ancestral industry has been deeply rooted. In the past, the court should not compete with the people for profits, causing resentment among the people. It is boiling, it is difficult to find a livelihood, and we will repeat the mistakes of the Wanli period. Extensive taxation is a retrograde move, and heavy taxation and exploitation are not a long-term solution. The internal officials will use the authority of the court to make merchants retreat. If it is implemented rashly and widely , will inevitably lead to a bad government that will lead to a decline in business, leaving local treasuries with no business to levy and no money to collect..."
Yaoji browsed through it briefly, and he knew what this guy was up to. He looked at his total score, and found it was seventy-two. It must be a relatively high score among the candidates, but this stance...
After unsealing the part with the name and place of affiliation written on it, the answer came to light. It came from Suzhou, the hometown of the beautiful mother. This is the territory of Donglin's hometown. It is strange that it supports the collection of multiple types of taxes.
His point of view was that he would not impose taxes on farmers, and he could not impose three additional taxes, otherwise he would be competing with the Min for profit. He did not want to answer whether the farmers belonged to the Min. If the household department was tight, it was because the court was incompetent and had nothing to do with it.
This fellow strongly disagrees with moving the capital. How could the great Ming Dynasty move the capital south under the pressure of the Donglu?
No matter what the situation is, we must resist it. If the emperor is dead, the prince will be crucified in the capital. He cannot retreat even one step!
You can't levy too many taxes, let alone move the capital south. You have to use reason to conquer the enemy, but you can't compete with Min for profit. What a wise policy this is!
"Such a great talent should work in Shaanxi!"
After Yaoji finished speaking, he gave the candidate's test paper to the new Shaanxi Governor Zuo Maodi. The latter was not stupid, and he could tell the good news. He immediately saw the clues after taking it. After understanding the prince's intentions, insisting on criticizing the prince's decision will naturally lead to misfortune.
After the prince was exempted from the three salaries, he relied on the three taxes to tide over the current difficulties. Everyone in the court understood that the three taxes were related to the country, the country, and the survival of the country. This was the general trend, and it was definitely not something that some people said could be resisted. .
Pulling out the third test paper, Yaoji's face darkened and he took it without circulating it to his subordinates.
When Liu Zhengzong, the president of the Hanlin Academy, came to report that all the examination papers had been approved and all the people involved in the examination were waiting in front of the palace, a certain prince said, "Which beloved is named Chen Zhilin?"
"My lord, Chen Zhilin is at your disposal, Your Highness!"
"In what year was Chen Aiqing a Jinshi?"
"One or two in Chongzhen's ten years!"
"Not bad! Do you know what you did?"
"I'm sorry for my stupidity, but I hope Your Highness can speak frankly!"
This guy is still pretending not to know, he is planning to fight to the end, and Yaoji doesn't want to expose his good deeds directly.
"Why is it that our Ming Dynasty is so exhausted and so ill that it is difficult to recover? It's all because there are too few talents who can be used for great purposes, and there are too many scum who are just trying to survive, and these scum are so sanctimonious that they run rampant in the world! What is scum? That's it. It looks like human scum! This thing is not even as good as excrement, because excrement can at least be used to irrigate farmland! For example, some Hanlins who dare to fill in answers for palace examination candidates! Did Chen Aiqing say this is the case? "
