"Although it is excessive in the Yamen, it is well-founded. Since you mentioned it, there happens to be an official document adjusting the Yamen of Lu'an Prefecture. Take a look!"
Slowly walking to Zhu Biao's study, Zhu Biao took out a document and handed it to Zheng Xiong.
Zheng Xiong picked up the document and scanned it slowly.
With the rise and fall of officials, almost all the officials in Lu'an Prefecture were transferred to places where nothing was done, which was equivalent to being assigned.
One of the interesting ones was transferred to Panyu and became a county magistrate.
But it doesn’t have much to do with me, I just took a cursory look at it.
Lao Zhu still loves him. Zhu Biao is a good brother and gave him a bad breath.
"So, this transfer is fair."
Revenge does not last overnight. When this issue was mentioned, Zheng Xiong directly started making a small report about Zhu Yu.
"Your Majesty has his own opinions, but I dare not comment on them."
"I have one more thing. I think Zhu Yu, the son of Marquis Yongjia, is not a good person."
"Think about it, why would you give a gift to someone who has no relatives? Besides, although I haven't looked at the gift carefully, it's worth a lot of money."
"Even if Marquis Yongjia has a high salary, it's still too much to give him like this."
"The government office in Lu'an Prefecture also has a lot of connections with his family, so I suspect that Marquis Yongjia is suspected of forming a clique for personal gain, which is harmful to the public and enriching private interests."
"And his son Zhu Yu is arrogant and domineering, and he even dares to lead people to attack the honor guard of his subjects. There are various signs that this family is not a good person. Your Highness should be careful."
Giving gifts is obviously a good thing, a normal exchange of favors, and an act of building relationships.
It's good for you, but if you don't accept it, you will become an enemy, making Zhu Biao dumbfounded.
Regarding what Zheng Xiong said, he wanted to drag Yongjia Marquis Zhu Liangzu into the water with just a few opinions.
Zhu Biao's attitude was non-committal on this issue.
"There is no conclusive evidence on this matter, so it is better not to talk about it."
"If you have any evidence, just handwrite a memorial of what you said and bring it to my father, the Emperor. What do you think?"
Not so good, just write a small report secretly, write a memorial because you are afraid that others will not know who is messing with him.
I've made a snitch, but I don't dare to offend him to death.
"I don't have any evidence, just some inference. Your Highness can just give His Majesty a few words."
Not understanding what Zheng Xiong meant, Zhu Biao finally agreed.
"Okay, just these two things! I will tell my father, do you have anything else?"
It's just a small report, and the subject hasn't said anything yet, so of course there's something going on.
Zheng Xiong no longer hesitated and revealed his true purpose.
"Yes. When I left, the Qinhuai River had just been renovated and was given to His Highness."
"Now that I have resumed my duties, I would like to ask Your Highness to return the Qinhuai River to me."
Tu Qiong saw that although there was no profit from that piece of work, Zhu Biao was reluctant to part with it just by looking at how much he had paid.
"There is no reason to recycle the things that are sent out!"
Seeing Zhu Biao's tendency to default on his debts, Zheng Xiong quickly came up with the first solution.
"It's a gift. It doesn't matter if you don't want it, but the future is promising. I have a lot of ideas that I want to try. It's not a problem to make money every day. But without me, it's hard to say."
"I can give you 10% of your royalties. As long as I let you take care of it, you can sit in the mansion and collect the money without having to worry about other problems. What do you think?"
It was originally picked up for free, but for the conditions offered by Zheng Xiong, it was natural that he could make money while lying down.
"10% is too little, let's go with 30%!"
"Twenty percent! For the aisle hand, you can get 20%. This is a very good deal."
"If Your Highness really wants to make money, I have another idea. We can make a lot of money together."
After saying this, he felt no longer sleepy. Zhu Biao's eyes lit up and he asked enthusiastically.
"What?"
"tea."
When he heard about tea, Zhu Biao's interest dropped by half.
Based on his inherent knowledge, although buying and selling can make some money, the benefits are definitely not that great, and Zhu Biao is not optimistic about it.
"You can earn some money, but it's all hard-earned money and you'll pay a lot of taxes. It's not necessary."
Silly boy, you have no knowledge, if you do it well, you will get a steady stream of money!
"It's because of the existence of the Tea Horse Division, so Your Highness has to deal with it. As long as you don't pay taxes, that's fine."
"No, how can I compete with the country for profit and use my own selfish interests to do things that harm the country's foundation? Don't mention this matter again."
Things were getting serious, so Zheng Xiong secretly said it was too bad and quickly explained.
"It's not what His Highness thinks. It's not like we don't have to pay taxes. We hand them over directly to the Ministry of Household Affairs, eliminating the need for complicated taxes in the middle. This is convenient for everyone."
"That won't work, then wouldn't the Tea Horse Master become a Horse Master? I don't have the ability to directly take the tea leaves for my own use, just to make money."
"Then what if we only take over the tea leaves from a few prefectures for our own use?"
Zhu Biao pondered for a moment and nodded.
"That's feasible. Let's hear from the state capitals."
High mountains produce good tea, and tea from Anhui is pretty good, especially from the Dabie Mountains.
Melon slices from Lu'an, yellow buds from Huoshan Mountain, and small orchids from Shucheng.
Lu'an alone has many young and old people, and its reputation in later generations is not small. Zheng Xiong blurted it out immediately.
"Liu'an Prefecture and Huizhou are enough."
Huangshan Maofeng, Qimen Black Tea, and Taiping Houkui are also famous. In the two states, four of the top ten famous teas are produced.
The distance is close, so Zheng Xiong’s choice is very practical.
Of course for Zhu Biao.
These two states currently do not account for a high proportion in the entire Tea Horse Industry, and they are not even ranked high when compared with the whole country.
Taking the Song and Yuan Dynasties as an example, the tea areas in the Song Dynasty were mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin and Huainan. The main tea areas were: Jiangnan Road, Huainan Road, Jinghu Road, Liangzhe Road and Fujian Road. Road was the name of the administrative region in the Song Dynasty, equivalent to Province.
The tea areas in the Yuan Dynasty were mainly divided into Jiangxi Province, Huguang Province and Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. The actual tea-producing areas did not change significantly, but the division of administrative regions changed after each dynasty.
It was not difficult for Zhu Biao to just get rid of the tea horses in the two states, but Zhu Biao still couldn't figure out the use of it.
"You can get the tea from the two states, but you have to figure out how to make money and make the decision."
It’s hard to say this. You can’t say that you know the future!
"I have been to Liu'an. The area is very mountainous and there are not many ways for the people to make a living. The water flowing from the mountains can easily cause disasters. I thought that the people could make a living by picking tea. There would be many ways to make a living." It’s just my selfishness.”
"The same is true in Huizhou."
"As for making money, your Highness can rest assured. If you don't make money, I will give you 50% of the Qinhuai River."
Seeing that Zheng Xiong's words were true and sincere, without Zheng Xiong, he would definitely not be able to make money from Zheng Xiong, so Zhu Biao agreed on the spot.
The main reason is that the tea output in these two states is not high.
"Okay, I trust you, I can handle the tea taxation issues in these two states for you. I hope you won't let me down."
"You will definitely live up to your destiny."
"It's not just about taxation, we have to collect the tea from both states and no one else is allowed to interfere."
(End of chapter)
