In the Fengtian Palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang sat high on the dragon chair. Even though he was still wearing regular clothes, the pressure on him was not reduced at all.
"We have a lot of feelings during this private visit incognito."
"I didn't expect that under the rule of our Ming Dynasty, things like exchanging children and eating them would happen."
"If we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, we wouldn't have believed that this kind of thing would happen in our Ming Dynasty."
"You sit high in the temple, but you don't know the sufferings of the people. You sing praises to us every day. How can the people in the world have enough to eat and drink?"
"Our Ming Dynasty is not in your mouth, but in the lives of the people."
"I am terrified."
Li Shanchang and other civil and military officials all knelt down to plead guilty to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Seeing that these officials were acting the same as before, Zhu Yuanzhang was not in the mood to continue talking, so he went straight to the point:
"Sir, after you and Fan Min, the Minister of Household Affairs, go to court, you will send all the tax revenue of Songjiang Prefecture over the years to the study. We want to take a look."
That's right, after Zhu Yuanzhang saw the bill from Shanghu County, he suddenly remembered that since Shanghu County collected such high taxes, the commercial tax paid by Shanghu County every year must be a large sum of money.
Thinking that Shanghu County was so prosperous and there were so many businessmen gathered here, Zhu Yuanzhang instantly felt like a windfall from heaven.
So Zhu Yuanzhang rushed towards Yingtian Mansion with eagerness, just to see how much money this Shanghu County paid in taxes every year.
If Li Jin dared to embezzle even taxes, Zhu Yuanzhang would never show mercy and immediately sent the Jinyi Guards to put Li Jin in jail and confiscate his family and exterminate his clan.
When Fan Min, the Minister of Accounts below, heard that Zhu Yuanzhang planned to check the account books, his heart jumped suddenly.
Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with his work and planned to cause trouble for himself?
Thinking of this, Fan Min subconsciously turned his attention to Li Shanchang. After all, as a descendant of Huaixi, Fan Min could reach this point without Li Shanchang's help.
Li Shanchang, however, had a calm expression on his face, saluted Zhu Yuanzhang generously, and said:
"According to the order."
Seeing how calm Li Shanchang was, Fan Min let go of most of his worries and continued:
"I obey the order."
"In this case, today's court meeting will end here. I hope you can understand the people's sentiments and do more for the people."
"Retreat from the court."
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't wait to retreat from the court, and then returned to the Chancery's study room to settle the accounts of Hu County.
.....
Go to the study.
As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang came down from court, he took Zhu Biao and rushed to the minister's study room.
Zhu Biao was the son on whom Zhu Yuanzhang had the highest hopes. As soon as the Ming Dynasty was established, Zhu Yuanzhang made Zhu Biao the prince.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, Zhu Biao was his heir. In the future, the only son who could succeed Datong would be Zhu Biao.
Because of this, Zhu Yuanzhang would take Zhu Biao with him wherever he went.
When handling government affairs, observing people's sentiments, and even sometimes working in the fields, Zhu Biao must be brought with him.
It can be said that everything Zhu Yuanzhang did was to make Zhu Biao understand him, to inherit his throne, and to continue the legacy of the old Zhu family.
Zhu Biao was dragged to the study room by Zhu Yuanzhang with a confused look on his face. He still didn't understand why Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly wanted to check the accounts.
"Father, why are you so anxious to check Songjiang Mansion's tax account books now?"
Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his hands, but looked very expectant and said:
"Biao'er, you also know that our Ming Dynasty is poor now."
"Father is so poor that he can't even open the pot."
"But in Shanghu County, you have also seen that Shanghu County is rich, and Li Jin is extremely rich."
"The tax implemented by Li Jin there is one out of ten taxes, and it is a policy that all merchants must pay, so the tax revenue from Shanghu County should be a lot of money."
"If this money can enter the national treasury, we won't have to worry about it this year. We will even have the money for Xu Da's Northern Expedition."
It was only then that Zhu Biao suddenly realized that Zhu Yuanzhang was trying to collect taxes from Shanghai County.
However, after Zhu Yuanzhang's reminder, Zhu Biao became excited instantly. After all, the wealth of Shanghu County was obvious to all.
If the tax revenue from Shanghai County can really be collected, the national treasury will be filled immediately.
While the father and son were walking around anxiously in the study, Li Shanchang finally walked in with Fan Min.
"I see the superior (the emperor)."
"Without any courtesy, stay on your feet and present the account books immediately."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face looked very anxious, with a hint of expectation and a little excitement in his anxiety.
Although Li Shanchang felt that the matter was not simple, he did not know what the problem was. He could only carefully present the account book in his hand to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Seeing Li Shanchang whining, Zhu Yuanzhang walked up to Li Shanchang in a few steps and snatched the account book.
Handing a copy to Zhu Biao, he began to carefully watch the taxation of Shanghu County in front of several people.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's urgency, Fan Min began to feel anxious again. When Zhu Yuanzhang's face became more and more ugly, Fan Min even stood a little unsteadily.
Although I don't know why Zhu Yuanzhang is angry, looking at Zhu Yuanzhang, it seems that he wants to choose people to devour.
Li Shanchang also saw something was wrong and hurriedly asked:
"Sir, I wonder what happened? Does your superior care so much?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was extremely pale at this moment. Hearing Li Shanchang's culture, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly turned his head and looked at Li Shanchang.
Staring, bloodshot eyes continued to spread on Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, and then Zhu Yuanzhang roared:
"Let me ask you, why is Songjiang Prefecture's commercial tax revenue 0 every year?"
"Are there no merchants in Songjiang Mansion? Or are you so bold that you dare to squander all this money without telling me?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression at this moment was extremely ferocious, which even shocked Li Shanchang.
Fan Min quickly knelt down, kowtowed and explained:
"Your Majesty, forgive me. Starting from the first year of Hongwu, our Ming Dynasty decided not to collect commercial taxes temporarily in order to reduce the burden on the people."
"Although there is a stipulation of thirty-one tax, there is no substantial commercial tax collected."
"And because the Ming Dynasty was a fledgling state, there was a lot of waste waiting to be done, and there were very few merchants left, so the annual business tax was almost negligible."
"Based on this, our Ming Dynasty has not collected commercial taxes until now."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his chest felt as if he had been hit hard by a sledgehammer. This distressing and suffocating feeling made Zhu Yuanzhang's face turn red instantly.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt his heart bleed when he thought that all the large commercial taxes in Shanghu County had been transferred to Li Jin.
"Asshole!!"
“Who proposed not to collect business tax in the first place?”
What Zhu Yuanzhang hates most at the moment is not Li Jin, but the bastard who proposed to exempt him from business tax in the first place.
"Yes...it's Wei Chen!"
Fan Min tremblingly admitted that he had suggested it in the first place.
Fan Min was able to take the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in the first place because of his suggestion.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Fan Min was considerate of the people and a good official, so he promoted Fan Min to the post.
But now, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill Fan Min immediately.
"Come here, take this bitch down, put him in jail, and investigate thoroughly."
Of course Zhu Yuanzhang would not think it was his fault, then it could only be Fan Min's fault.
Li Shanchang watched Fan Min being dragged away, but he did not dare to plead for mercy.
Even Li Shanchang, who has Zhu Yuanzhang's temperament, knows that speaking at this time will not help.
At this moment, Zhu Biao also discovered the clue and said to Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Father, look quickly, Songjiang Mansion's food tax is wrong too."
