"what did he say?"
"Son of the Sea? What the hell is his name? Ask him if he was driven out by the Spaniards?"
"He's really Spanish!"
Emperor Ka is now standing on an iron ship with a confused look on his face.
My brain is completely unable to function.
He escaped on a small boat sent by people from the Middle Kingdom.
Unexpectedly, just a few days after escaping, they would encounter the fleet of the Middle Kingdom head-on.
From the flags they hung, Kadadi confirmed their identities.
And when he got on the boat, he was dumbfounded.
Iron, which is more expensive than gold, actually built such a big ship!
oh.
These people should also be from the Middle Kingdom, right?
Their chief is a son of God.
I am a son of the sea, and everyone treats me as a son, and I don’t know if the other party can give me a little help.
At this time, Cai Qian and Zheng Xiaoyi were most concerned about where the Spaniards had gone.
It is not easy to find an island in the vast sea that only exists on the sea map.
Now I met a guy on the sea who claimed to be the king of the world.
I don’t know if his world is Hawaii?
"It must be the Spaniards, we can't let them take over Hawaii! This seems to be the right time!"
Cai Qian took a deep breath and said.
"First send a reconnaissance ship to see the Spanish layout. They should have occupied the island."
Zheng Xiaoyi said.
Three days later.
After the two learned about the situation in Hawaii, they couldn't help but frown.
"The Spaniards have transformed the island into a fortress. If they want to force a landing, I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties." Cai Qian frowned and said, "What should we do now? Do we need to go back to the country and ask the army to take action?"
Now the Ming Navy has no troops specifically responsible for landing operations, nor does it have any marines.
Instead, the precious sailors were required to hold their muskets and do the work of landing on the beach.
Cai Qian estimated that after winning this battle, he would have to move his head.
After all, there is no shortage of troops for the bulk of the Ming Dynasty's army.
But the navy is different.
Experienced sailors who can go to sea are too precious.
It's impossible to use it for such consumption.
"Go back first. Obtaining such a Hawaiian king is a great achievement!"
Zheng Xiaoyi said regretfully.
"And I guess the Spaniards will go back to bring in reinforcements, so we have to hurry up!"
The power of the Ming Empire began to extend to the west coast of America and the Hawaiian Islands.
However, the competition between the Ming Dynasty and Spain, the United States, and Britain for the Americas could not be decided overnight, and there was no basis for a war between the two sides.
This is destined to be a very Manchester City process.
And in the Ming Dynasty.
The matter regarding the Gongyuan in Chengdu, Sichuan has been placed on the desk of Emperor Zhu Daohua of the Ming Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, we have arrested eight leaders this time. These eight leaders have been touted as the Eight Gentlemen of Gongyuan by many local newspapers in Sichuan. They are just young people in their twenties, but they are too passionate. "Look," the one who is speaking is Luo Fangbo, Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty.
Naturally, he didn't want the impact of the Gongyuan incident to be too great.
"Take the lead in resisting the imperial examination policy and engaging in illegal gatherings. You will be punished according to etiquette! How are the outstanding debts in the eight southeastern provinces being handled?"
Emperor Zhu didn't have much favorable impressions of these scholars who liked to do extraordinary things to gain fame.
So he directly ordered Sichuan to "punish according to etiquette."
Decide this.
This Eight Gentlemen of Sichuan will definitely be in trouble.
Even being locked up for two or three years is considered light.
"The arrears in all provinces are being dealt with in an orderly manner, and most wealthy households in various places have paid all their past arrears."
After hearing what Prime Minister Luo said, Emperor Zhu, who was looking through the local land tax situation, showed a sneer on his lips.
"It's really good. Most of the land owned by these wealthy households with thousands of acres is in the lower and middle fields, while the upper fields are in the hands of small families."
Hearing Emperor Zhu's words, Luo Fangbo had a wry smile on his face.
How could he not know this would happen?
The fields in Daming will be divided into upper, middle and lower grades according to the quality of the cultivated land.
The taxes on the fields are high, but the taxes on the fields are low.
Those wealthy families are quite powerful in the local area. Of course, they can use various means to convert their own fields into lower fields and turn other farmers' fields into upper fields.
"Your Majesty, the wealthy households in this place have entangled relationships in the local area, and it is not easy to solve them. Moreover, they have not paid taxes before."
yes.
No tax was paid before.
Now pay the field tax.
This is already a huge improvement.
An intriguing smile appeared at the corner of Emperor Zhu's mouth.
"Xiang Luo, is it possible to collect taxes according to the amount of heaven and earth? Those with less fields will not be taxed or exempted from taxation, and those with more fields will be taxed more. How about that?"
Hearing this, Luo Fangbo shook his head and said: "The method is possible, but it is just that there are countermeasures at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. The bottom will definitely find loopholes to exploit. For example, if the fields are divided, the field tax will be collected. Don’t come up.”
Dividing the land means spreading the land on the heads of the tenant farmers, but in fact the land still belongs to the wealthy households.
As long as the local wealthy households occupy far more resources than the poor, it will be difficult for the above-mentioned tinkering to truly shake the interest structure of the local wealthy households.
Emperor Zhu nodded.
"Everyone in the world is here for profit. This matter in the local area is still a profit after all."
He stood up.
"However, the scholar-officials in our country are shy about talking about profit, but they strive for profit in everything they do. Even when they are on the stage and in the fields, they have to use their hands and feet to let the common people receive the taxes on the fields and pay the taxes on the fields themselves. However, in fact Most of the land in the world is in the hands of wealthy households."
Luo Fangbo was silent.
This has been true since ancient times.
How can ordinary people fight against rich families?
This Confucian scholar-official talks about benevolence, justice and morality.
But in fact, it accounts for the largest share of interests.
"Your Majesty, it would be better to cancel the division of upper, middle and lower fields and collect taxes at a unified rate," Luo Fangbo suggested.
This is certainly a solution.
However, Emperor Zhu thought for a while and said: "This method is good, but it only treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. As time goes by, new interest patterns and loopholes will definitely form in the local area!"
"I observe that the demise of dynasties in the past is nothing more than the depletion of tax revenue and financial collapse of the imperial court, so that it is nothing more than the death of controlling the army and local areas."
Of course, Emperor Zhu was not worried about the common people paying more taxes, but worried that one day the court would be deceived by the local government and would not be able to collect taxes.
Of course, systems are also needed to ensure this.
"Your Majesty, as long as the court's politics are clear and there are wise kings and wise ministers in the government, the local monsters and monsters will not be so easy to cause chaos." Luo Fangbo said.
"A wise king and a wise minister." Zhu Daohua shook his head.
"There are not many emperors as smart as me. Although Xiaopang doesn't look stupid, he definitely doesn't know what's going on in the place. He will definitely be deceived in the future."
"So, there must be a way to ensure that the court can collect taxes no matter what the circumstances!"
(End of chapter)
