What the traitor said is true. The Jiangnan gang headed by Dong Lin, whenever the household department in Taicang is in a tight situation, they clamor for me to collect wages from farmers every day.
However, he protected and connived the merchants. Instead of imposing additional taxes on them, he colluded with the merchants to evade taxes, thereby defrauding the court and endangering the Ming Dynasty.
Yuan Chonghuan asked me to meet his Liao salary needs, so I stopped the inn and misappropriated the Shaanxi military salary. As a result, the border troops were unable to support their families, and eventually the northwest rebellion broke out.
Dong Lin also asked me to increase agricultural taxes, forcing farmers with meager incomes to death. Coupled with frequent natural disasters, millions of hungry people were displaced and became a serious problem for the imperial court.
Now that Yuan Chonghuan is dead, but Donglin is becoming more and more powerful, Chongzhen can't help but feel sad. If Donglin didn't have so many disciples, with thousands of disciples, Chongzhen would really want to eradicate them.
Judging from today's court meeting, everyone in Donglin and Fushe is really the scum of the Ming Dynasty. They are causing harm to the court and depriving the emperor of his work. However, they don't want to share the emperor's worries, but instead oppose me everywhere. It is really hateful!
I am no better than that treacherous son, and I am no better than you?
Hum!
Today I will start with the Zhejiang tea merchants and see how you respond!
"..."
At this time, Zheng Sanjun, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, was a little afraid to start a fight. Before he understood the emperor's true intention, it was best not to speak rashly, otherwise he might even lose the chance to make amends.
The three colleagues from Donglin had just been dismissed from office, and the emperor had made it clear that they would never rise again, so he did not want to follow their footsteps so soon.
Zheng Sanjun somewhat understood Donglin's attitude towards the prince. The prince was extremely harsh on the merchants, and Donglin spoke for the merchants. Therefore, even if the two sides did not fight openly, they would be against each other secretly.
Previously, Zheng Sanjun learned that many Jiangnan merchants, and even many officials, were hoping that both the Emperor Taiji and the Prince would be injured in a fight, so that they could reap the benefits.
As a result, Huang Taiji was unexpectedly defeated by the prince. After receiving such news, not only the merchants were extremely disappointed, but also Dong Lin, who planned to take the opportunity to make some fuss.
The prince was already in power and was in charge of the eight corners of the north. Now he defeated the Eastern captives, and his reputation rose to an unprecedented height.
Supplemented by Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Wang Zaijin, Zheng Zhilong, Yang Wenyue and other five troops, plus the troops entrenched in Jifu area, the army under his command is no less than 500,000!
Except for the emperor, all the vassal princes, generals and powerful ministers had to stay away to avoid his sharp edge. Even the emperor Taiji was defeated and retreated. Who dared to challenge the prince in battle at this time?
As for the merchants...
The Shanxi merchants and their families had been cleared out by the prince a long time ago, and now a new group of Shanxi merchants have completely surrendered to the Beiting.
Yang Wenyue led his troops to block the military town of Datong, which was equivalent to blocking the choke point for Shanxi merchants to sell goods outside the customs. Without the approval of the court, if someone stole the goods, they would definitely die.
The outcome of the merchants in the capital can be summarized from the "Jingshi Daily" that arrived in Nandu. They were arrogant and domineering in the past and tried to unite to fight against the prince.
In less than three days, without exception, everyone will kneel down and beg for mercy. Otherwise, they will have to pay decades of evaded taxes at once. Who can bear this?
You can still survive by taking refuge with the prince. If you don't take refuge with the prince and don't pay back taxes, you will either flee the capital or rebel on the spot. There is no third way!
If the merchants have no soldiers, the rebellion will naturally not succeed.
What's more, they are all locked up in prison, how can they escape?
The merchants in Jiangnan have never encountered such an experience, otherwise they would definitely not be aggrieved and try to make a comeback.
In the past, the emperor had been extremely benevolent to the merchants, and the tax evasion was covered up by some officials.
Now that the matter has been revealed by the prince, if he tries to revive the old plan, it would be tantamount to covering up the truth.
"If the Zhejiang tea merchants are loyal to the imperial court, I can naturally be lenient and not care about the taxes they have evaded for decades. However, a group of tea merchants do not want to repent and still try to perfunctory, so don't blame me for being like this. Before the end of the year, tea merchants in a corner of Zhejiang must pay a total of five hundred thousand taels of silver. If they cannot pay in full, I will send them to explain to the prince. This money is for Beiting, and the tea merchants who owe taxes should report to the prince. The explanation is reasonable!"
Chongzhen had already planned the matter of taxes and money. Otherwise, if he had stayed in the back mansion for so many days, wouldn't he really have become a coward?
If the traitor has the ability to deal with the northern merchants, then he should also help him deal with the southern merchants!
The mercury that the merchants owe to the Southern Court, and the money that the Southern Court owes to the Northern Court, why not give these merchants from the south of the Yangtze River directly to the traitor!
For Chongzhen, it is better to do less than to do more.
Since that naughty son is good at this, he can use his talent alone and enjoy his leisure time.
"..."
Zheng Sanjun was stunned by Chongzhen's unreasonable order. Just share the shares?
Aren’t the tea merchants in Zhejiang experiencing a sudden disaster?
Five hundred thousand taels!
If divided among a hundred tea merchants, each person would only receive 5,000 taels.
According to the total amount of tax evasion in its history, it is really not much.
But will these tea merchants sit back and wait for death, and will they obediently pay their money?
What happens then?
Will the emperor send the Yongwei Battalion to arrest the tea merchant?
Isn't this the scene of arresting salt merchants in Yangzhou again?
Yongweiying returns to his old business and becomes a kidnapper again?
Merchants from the south of the Yangtze River evaded taxes and became thieves, while the emperor's own soldiers collected taxes and became kidnappers!
This is really a rare thing since ancient times...
"Your Majesty is acting in this way because he is afraid that the people will boil over, the market will stagnate, and all industries will decline. This is fishing for the best and drinking poison to quench thirst. It is absolutely undesirable!"
Zhang Cai, the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment, did not want to see the emperor succeed again. If the Zhejiang tea merchants gave in under heavy pressure, what should the merchants in South Zhili do?
"Since Zhang Aiqing thinks so, why not let Zhang Aiqing come up with a strategy that can yield 500,000 taels of silver on one side?"
Whoever dares to stop his plan, Chongzhen will let him speak instead, otherwise he will go back to his hometown to play.
"...I think that our Ming Dynasty has always been based on agriculture, so we should impose an additional agricultural tax. The 500,000 taels will be divided among 500,000 households, and each household will only receive one tael of silver!"
Zhang Cai did not dare to offend the merchants. If he wanted to squeeze out money, he could only bully the farmers.
"Aiqing is really considerate of the court. Each household only has one tael. That's right! The prince once said that after taxes and land rents are taken away, a farmer's income will be very little, which is just enough to feed the family. Aiqing said it in just a few words. Farmers took away one tael of silver from their hands. Merchants paid less or even no taxes. However, farmers were required to pay as much tax as they wanted, and they would not give up until their families were destroyed and their lives were destroyed. Previously, the imperial court had widely collected wages and silver, which made farmers everywhere miserable and eventually led to frequent epidemics. Minbian. What is Aiqing’s motive for oppressing farmers in this way?"
A certain traitor once told Chongzhen to change his previous strategy and collect taxes from whoever has money.
Turning all farmers into rogue minions or even rogue bandits will do a lot of harm to the court but not a single benefit.
Taiji, the leader of the captives, hopes that the court will act in this way. As long as there is chaos in the pass, the Eastern captive army outside the pass will be able to cooperate with the rogue army inside the pass...
"Your Majesty clearly knows that I am loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and this decision is made from the bottom of my heart. I believe that treating merchants well is our Ming Dynasty's ancestral system. Your Majesty Taizu Gao is like this, and all emperors have followed it. Your Majesty is being harsh on merchants now, which is putting the cart before the horse! "
Since the emperor wanted to accuse himself, Zhang Cai brought out Zu Zhi and Zhu Yuanzhang, just to silence Chongzhen.
"……you!"
Chongzhen was so angry that Zhang Cai was so angry that he said that these scoundrels who shielded merchants should be shot to death by thousands of arrows, or at the worst, sent to the hands of the traitor.
"Shilang Zhang's words are wrong. His Majesty Emperor Taizu Gao treated merchants well. However, merchants at that time paid taxes according to regulations and did not dare to evade taxes. Today is different from the past. In just one corner of Zhejiang, tea merchants ignored the court regulations and stole taxes at will. Tax evasion. Could it be that Shilang Zhang turned a deaf ear to this and turned a blind eye? Or was he deliberately exonerating the tea merchants in an attempt to get away with it?"
Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was stumped by Zhang Cai, Kefa, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War and Censor of Zuo Qiandu, immediately came out to help.
He wanted to make it clear to the emperor and his colleagues that the focus of the dispute was tax evasion by Zhejiang tea merchants and nothing else.
As long as we firmly grasp this item and make some articles along the way, it will be much easier to deal with Zhang Cai and others.
"You have no basis and no evidence. You are clearly deliberately slandering me! Your Majesty, Shi Kefa is extremely cunning. He wants to frame me just based on his assumptions. If my reputation is damaged because of this, it will also be a loss for the imperial court. Please Your Majesty will remove this person from office to prevent others from making the same mistakes in the future!”
Zhang Cai knew that Shi Kefa was from Chongzhen, and he didn't expect that he would be killed by this little thing of oral sex.
But something has to be done, preferably to silence Shi Kefa, because his words go to the heart of the argument.
"Shilang Zhang, previously Fushe scholars participated in the merchants' strike, and the factory guards arrested many of them. Zhang Shilang will not forget this, right? Can Shilang Zhang make it clear whether Fushe colluded with merchants? Do you have any evidence? I also Those who don’t believe that Fushe colluded with merchants, but in this court meeting, it’s really unforgettable that Zhang Shilang spoke for the merchants like this!”
With Shi Kefa taking the lead and offering some advice, Xu Zhi, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, would be able to take action with his help.
The nonsense about Zhang Cai and Fushe had already spread throughout the Beiguan team.
Donglin and Fushe have an incompatible relationship, and it is not an exaggeration to think that the two are regarded as lackeys of the merchants.
During this court meeting, Zhang Cai confidently defended Zhejiang tea merchants, which can be described as extremely shameless!
"You...you teamed up with Shi Kefa to slander me, and even more, Fushe! The Qing Dynasty will be self-cleansed, and I am an upright official. I must seek an explanation and clear Fushe's name!"
Of course Zhang Cai would not admit it. Even if the factory guards really caught Fushe members, Zhang Cai would claim that it was a personal act and had nothing to do with Fushe.
"Well said! I also admire Mr. Zhang's noble style, which is indeed a model for all officials. I wonder if Mr. Zhang had any Shenzi dishes last night?"
As soon as Shi Kefa took the lead, the "Beiguan Group" that had been watching the excitement for a long time suddenly became active.
Since Zhang Cai dared to openly launch a personal attack on Shi Kefa, he was not a vegetarian either.
Zhu Yongyou, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, used the best trick in the entire group. He had been looking forward to seeing Zhang Cai's joke!
"What does what I eat have to do with you?"
"You don't dare to say it, do you?"
"You are obviously making trouble unreasonably, how can you show the decency of a Ming Dynasty official!"
"You have the decency to tell the truth! After all, you still don't dare, right?"
Zhu Yongyou had just been watching the battle for a long time and discovered that yesterday's dinner was the seven-inch match between Donglin and Fushe.
Since Hou Xun, Zhang Wei, and Qian Shisheng would rather risk being dismissed from office than speak out, there must be a mystery behind it.
No matter what tricks you use, I will hit you seven inches to see if it hurts you!
"Zhang Aiqing, you just said that you are innocent, why didn't you dare to answer? I'm also curious, why did Zhang Aiqing hesitate to say anything about what he ate last night?"
On the issue of having dinner, Chongzhen took the absolute initiative and could make any trouble he wanted.
Donglin and the other three didn't dare to respond before, which meant that this dinner still became a nightmare in their hearts.
If you really say it, maybe just explain it.
But if you keep holding it in like this until the end, the damage caused will inevitably be greater!
"Shilang Zhang, His Majesty is asking you! You should answer His Majesty as soon as possible!"
When one person fights three people, Zhang Cai's chance of winning is low.
Coupled with the fact that Emperor Chongzhen personally went into battle, there was no possibility of victory.
Xu Zhi gloated and added fuel to the fire, forcing Zhang Cai into a dead end.
"you……"
This time it was Zhang Caiyu's turn to choke up, so much so that his face turned blue.
To say it or not to say it?
If he said that he would give Qian Qianyi, it would be tantamount to directly offending Dong Lin.
Just now, the three people from Donglin didn't even say anything, but they did it themselves. Aren't they as stupid as pigs?
If he didn't say it, the guys in front of him would definitely use this as an excuse, and they would go on to no end!
"Sir Zhang, it's just a dinner, why are you so entangled? Is there really something mysterious about it?"
Meng Zhaoxiang, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was also very curious about it. The people in Donglin were unwilling to talk about it, and the people in Fushe were also unwilling to talk about it.
Then this dinner is quite strange. Judging from his expression, it could be cannibalism, right? ? ?
"you……"
Zhang Cai became more passive now, feeling as if the entire Beiguan Group was staring at him.
"Zhang Aiqing, do you have anything to hide about dinner?"
Chongzhen now thinks he is watching a monkey show, but this guy is completely humiliating himself.
I had previously exonerated the Zhejiang tea merchants, but I never expected that my retribution would come immediately.
"Your Majesty, I wonder if I can refuse to answer?"
Zhang Cai decided not to say anything, lest Fu She really become an enemy of Dong Lin.
Fushe is a rising star, but Donglin is the most powerful in Jiangnan and even in the Ming Dynasty, and he really cannot be offended.
"...This...sigh~! Okay! I don't want to force others to make things difficult. Zhang Aiqing doesn't want to answer, so there is no need to answer. However, since I promised Aiqing not to answer, Aiqing must also agree to me, and she will not be able to help me from now on. Merchant, my dear, are you willing?"
For similar problems, a certain villain had already prepared a solution for Chongzhen.
One problem changes to another, one condition changes to another.
If you think you're at a disadvantage, you don't have to change.
Then there is no need to bother, I can kill you in one step!
"...Rong Chen, think twice!"
Now Zhang Cai became even more passive. If he really agreed to the emperor's conditions, how could he speak for the merchants during the court meeting?
Wouldn't he be losing a lot if he exchanged one dinner for being silenced all the time in the future?
If he replied, it would definitely offend Dong Lin.
If you don't answer, you will become the enemy of the emperor and the Beiguan Group.
"I had dinner at home last night, and I'm not afraid of minor criticism!"
After weighing the pros and cons, Zhang Cai decided to lie and even thought about eating Zhenzi dishes.
In this way, he could deal with the emperor without offending Dong Lin. It was the best of both worlds.
Qian Qianyi, who was standing not far from Zhang Cai, felt bad when he heard this, but he couldn't help him at this time.
"Ai Qing, can you guarantee that what you say is true? Otherwise, it will be your king's crime!"
Chongzhen was not going to tolerate and condone this kind of guy who was so smart that he was misled by his cleverness.
Hearing that Zhang Cai deliberately deceived him, Chongzhen thought of the national battle Zhou Kui crying for poverty in front of the civil and military officials of the court.
It was the queen who took 5,000 taels of silver to finance it, but in return, Zhou Kui embezzled most of it.
Now that Zhou Kui was banned by the traitor and his family property was confiscated, he deserved it.
Zhang Cai thought that he could deceive others in this way. It was really wishful thinking.
"I would like to guarantee that what I said is true!"
At this point, Zhang Cai has no way out and can only go to the dark side.
