"What's wrong?" Zhu Su and Queen Ma were both startled. Lao Zhu actually calls himself "I", which shows the depth of his anger. Queen Ma quickly comforted Zhu Xiongying in her arms and asked Lao Zhu.
Lao Zhu still had an angry look on his face, pointed at Erhu and said: "Go, bring us Yan Xizhe, the Minister of Household Affairs, and go quickly!"
The two tigers did not dare to neglect and immediately retreated. Lao Zhu was still indignant, and Queen Ma asked warmly: "What's wrong? Are you so angry? What happened?"
"The Hubu bullies people too much, bullies people too much!" It was okay if I didn't ask, but when asked, Lao Zhu became even more furious. "The entire business tax paid by Yingtian Mansion officials in Beijing is less than 100,000 taels... Are these thieves sending beggars?"
"When Chongzhen was about to subjugate his country, he went to hundreds of officials to raise money, and even raised two hundred thousand taels... Why, those thieves think that we are the king of the subjugation of the country, do they want to give us a sign of the subjugation of the country?"
It turned out that it was because of this that Zhu Su was dumbfounded when he heard it. A full month has passed since the imperial court tried out the tiered commercial tax system among court officials, and only one hundred thousand taels were collected...
Don't look at the figure of 100,000 yuan in business tax. It seems to be quite acceptable in the current world where everything is in ruins and business is not prosperous. However, you must know that the place where the tiered business tax system is trialled is Yingtian!
You know, Yingtian Mansion is the most prosperous place in the world, and it is also where the Imperial Capital is located. Even when the Northern Yuan Dynasty was plundering, business in the Jiangnan mansions including Yingtian Mansion was prosperous, and various large and wealthy merchants emerged in endlessly.
Most of those who can do business successfully at the feet of the emperor are people in the court. Previously, even if the Shen family was the richest man in the south of the Yangtze River, they would still tremble because there was no one in the court. In other words, most of the restaurants and shops in Yingtian today are actually the properties of court officials or nobles.
With Yingtian's business volume, even if the first step was to expropriate only the property of the court officials' relatives, how could it be possible that it would only be 100,000 taels? Do the people in the court really think that the butcher knife in Lao Zhu’s hand is not sharp?
Zhu Su shook his head speechlessly.
At Queen Ma's instruction, Zhu Su followed Lao Zhu to the Jinshen Hall. Before waiting for long, he saw a rather young official trotting into the palace tremblingly. Before reaching the steps, he didn't dare to raise his head, so he quickly kowtowed in great fear: "Your Majesty Yan Xizhe, my greetings... "
"Yan Xizhe, was this one hundred thousand tael memorial written by your household department?" Lao Zhu was so angry that he threw the memorial directly at his feet before Yan Xizhe could finish his words. "Your household department has such a good plan. Why, you treat me like a beggar and put together things to frustrate me!"
"Your Majesty, I don't dare! I don't dare!" Yan Xizhe kowtowed one after another, mentally scolding the old colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue.
As mentioned before, he was a minister who was chasing ducks, and all the power in the household department fell into the hands of a group of old ministers of the Yuanting court. Those old guys deceived him because of his youth, and usually did not play with the young new minister. This time they planned to secretly divide the treasure bank with Li Shanchang, and they also isolated Yan Xizhe from him and did not let him know.
Therefore, Yan Xizhe only thought that this so-called increase in commercial tax was just a normal policy change. Although he was also a surrendered minister of the Yuan Dynasty, he had only been a small county magistrate in the remote Fujian area before. He had been living his life until the change of dynasties. How could he understand the twists and turns of these big shots in the court? It wasn't until those old fritters came to him with the summarized figures and asked him to print them that he felt something was wrong. Yingtian Mansion is prosperous in commerce, and all of these colleagues are wealthy. The additional commercial tax cannot be increased by only 100,000 taels in any case.
The glass Buddha statues made by His Highness the Fifth Prince are priced at tens of thousands of dollars, and almost every one of these colleagues has one of them to support the whole house!
"I don't know, Lord Shangshu, that this number was calculated by various officials in our Ministry of Household Affairs. It is indeed true. If you don't believe it, how about you calculate it yourself?"
"It's just that your Majesty is eager to get this number. If the palace is to blame, the lower officials will not take the responsibility." The old minister who reported the results to him said in a strange tone.
Yan Xizhe was helpless at that time. He was able to be promoted by Lao Zhu to the position of Minister of Household Affairs. Naturally, he had two brushes in arithmetic, and he also knew how much calculation was required. If he was alone, he would not be able to calculate until next year. This exact number can be calculated.
What's more, he is just an airborne minister, and the entire household department has long been managed by these old people into a monolith, except that it is not under the control of him, the minister.
Even if the people below are asked to do the accounting, those people will definitely be obedient and disloyal.
It can only be said that bullying in the workplace has existed in ancient and modern times.
However, although Yan Xizhe knew some arithmetic, he did not know the way of serving his subordinates. He only obeyed when things happened, and became a shield for other colleagues. It was the same this time. Although I had some doubts in my heart, I didn't dare to delay. In desperation, he could only follow the wishes of his colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue and report the memorial.
Sure enough, how could such a number satisfy His Majesty? A violent storm swept across.
Bitter!
"Your Majesty, I also feel that this number is wrong, but I asked my colleagues in the ministry several times, and they all swore that there must be no mistakes or omissions." Yan Xizhe kowtowed and reported loudly. "Your Majesty is aware that I have been favored by Your Majesty and will never dare to deceive Your Majesty!"
Lao Zhu wanted to scold him again, but when Zhu Su saw Yan Xizhe's forehead turning red, he thought for a while and stopped him: "Father, why bother Yan Xizhe?"
"I think this matter has nothing to do with Shangshu Yan. Even if those people want to deceive you, I'm afraid they won't be stupid enough to directly mess with the numbers."
"As the saying goes, there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. Those people have been officials for longer than you have been the emperor, so they cannot be so superficial. Their countermeasures must be beyond calculation of numbers."
"...Hmph!" Lao Zhu snorted coldly. "That's what you said. Those thieves mistook us for the foolish king of Dayuan!"
"Erhu, go find Mao Xiang. We have something for him to investigate!"
As expected, he no longer paid attention to Yan Xizhe, but continued to give orders to Erhu. Yan Xizhe looked at Zhu Su with tears of gratitude as if he had been pardoned.
What a good man! Your Highness, how benevolent he is!
Zhu Su was not interested in this arrogant minister who was a bit of a nerd. Instead, he discussed with Lao Zhu: "Do you want to use the Jinyi Guards to conduct a direct search?"
"Since this group of people dare to do this, they are planning to use a conspiracy that is not afraid of being exposed, such as transferring assets to slaves, wives, etc. If the Jin Yiwei is used, I am afraid that it will no longer be taxing in accordance with the law, but ransacking homes. "
"In this case, I'm afraid this tax increase policy will exist in name only."
(End of chapter)
