As the New Year approaches, the city of Nanjing becomes even more lively. Theater troupes, artists, and businessmen from all over the country flock to the capital, beating gongs and drums, attracting buyers.
Restaurants and tea shops are crowded with people, walking through the streets and alleys, visiting friends and relatives, and people walking in groups are crowded shoulder to shoulder. Especially the area around Wuding Bridge and Chaoku Street, as well as Qinhuai and Confucius Temple, are even more lively.
At dusk and night, in many small courtyards along both sides of the Qinhuai River, flower cards are raised, waiting for a romantic affair.
On the river, there are painted boats and drums, and dendrobium trees are intertwined.
A small boat with a black awning came leisurely, and the copper bell on the roof swayed with the hull of the boat, making a clear tinkling sound.
Ma Enhui held Zhu Yunwen's hand tightly, looking a little pale, and asked helplessly for help.
Zhu Yunwen was overjoyed and said to Ma Enhui: "How long have you not been to this prosperous place? You will get sick if you are always bored."
Ma Enhui pinched Zhu Yunwen hard, feeling a little aggrieved.
Where did the emperor and queen of the empire go to the Qinhuai River? If people find out about this, how can we still live? Is this what you call a so-called inspection of public sentiment? Visiting people?
I think you dislike the beauties in the harem!
Ma Enhui lowered her head, not daring to look outside, for fear that some official would see her, and she would be too embarrassed to live.
It's all because he was too naive. Zhu Yunwen did what he said. He didn't even have any doubts and followed him out innocently. During the day, he walked around the streets and watched plays and sideshows. It was wonderful, but it was already dark and he didn't look back. Palace, instead arrived at the Qinhuai River...
Ma Enhui pulled Zhu Yunwen and said almost pleadingly: "Let's go back quickly. This is not the place we should come."
"Why not? There are a lot of delicacies along the Qinhuai River, such as the Fang family's lotus root candy, the Liu family's dough hot cakes... don't you want to try them?"
Zhu Yunwen asked with a smile.
Ma Enhui swallowed her saliva and asked: "Emperor... you brought me here just to eat delicious food?"
Zhu Yunwen laughed and said: "What else? You have had a bad appetite recently and only eat a little every day. After all, you are bored. You can walk around, take a look, and relax, and you will be fine. Do you think I am here? What is it for?"
Ma Enhui's face turned red and she said, "I, I thought you were just taking me to eat delicious food."
"really?"
"really!"
"Didn't you lie?"
Oops, the woman's words still couldn't be revealed. Zhu Yunwen rubbed the flesh on his waist and glared at Ma Enhui fiercely. Ma Enhui groaned and directed Liu Changge: "Hurry through here."
Liu Changge did not dare to provoke him, even the emperor dared to pinch him. If he disobeyed, he would probably be kicked into the Qinhuai River.
There are also some narrow waterways on both sides of the Qinhuai River. There are sluices at the mouths of the waterways. When the sluices are opened, ships can go down the waterways and lead to beautiful places.
A larger flower boat came towards us, and the people on the bow shouted: "Ships in front of us, move closer to the shore and let out of the waterway."
Liu Changge looked back at Zhu Yunwen, who laughed and said, "When will we give way to others?"
After hearing this, Liu Changge felt comfortable. He was worthy of being an emperor, and he was domineering. So, with anger sinking in his Dantian, he shouted: "Ships in front, move to the shore and let the waterway pass!"
The people on the flower boat were stunned for a moment. They looked at the insignificant little awning in front of them, and then looked at the big flower boat under their feet. After comparing it, they realized that their own boat was taller and more powerful.
"Get out of the way! If you don't get out of the way, I will overturn your boat!"
The people on the flower boat shouted.
Liu Changge suddenly picked up the pennie in his hand, and a splash of water flew out. He shouted sternly: "You dare to come here, you are seeking death!"
The spray of water hit the man in the flower boat directly in the face from a distance of more than ten meters.
"How brave!"
The boatman wiped the water from his face and shouted angrily.
"What happened? Why don't you move forward?"
King Zhu Zhi of Liao came out when he saw the commotion outside.
Min King Zhu Geng followed him out, admiring the prosperous night scene in front of him, and sighed: "The capital is prosperous. If I can stay here for the rest of my life, this life will be in vain."
"Sir, there is a boat blocking the way ahead."
The boatman pointed to the boat not far away and said.
Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng looked down.
Zhu Zhi rubbed his eyes and said, "The people on the bow of the boat seem to have been seen before somewhere."
Zhu Geng nodded and agreed: "It's a bit familiar, but the lights on the shore are too dim to see clearly."
Liu Changge stared at Zhu Yunwen and Ma Enhui with wide eyes, and said, "It's the King of Liao and the King of Min."
Ma Enhui snorted, very dissatisfied.
Zhu Yunwen smiled knowingly. It was a good thing that these vassal kings were obsessed with the gentle countryside. When the time is right, their vassal land can be recovered, which also solves the problem of annexation of land by the vassal king.
Walking onto the bow of the boat, Zhu Yunwen looked at the shocked eyes of Ma Enhui and Liu Changge and shouted: "If you don't get out of the way, I will knock your boat over and tip it into the river!"
The boatmen and boatmen of the flower boat quit their jobs and rolled up their sleeves one by one. Some of them began to curse. After only saying two words, Zhu Zhi kicked him into the water.
"Emperor, emperor..."
Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng were dumbfounded and didn't know what to call them here.
If you call the emperor, it would be strange if the Qinhuai River doesn't explode. If you don't, wouldn't it be disrespectful?
Oh my God, Your Majesty, wouldn’t you like to stay in the Jinshen Palace?
Why come to the Qinhuai River? Isn’t this going to cost us our lives?
If the news reaches Kunji's ears, wouldn't it mean that the Three Palaces and Sixth Courtyard will be burned down?
"Get out of the way!"
Zhu Yunwen shouted.
"Give, let, hurry up and give in!"
Zhu Zhi quickly shouted to the boatman.
Liu Changge looked at the smooth waterway, smiled, and rowed the boat. When the Wu Peng boat passed by the flower boat, Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng waved their hands and watched the boat go away.
"Do you see it?"
Zhu Zhi asked Zhu Geng.
Zhu Geng shook his head firmly and said, "I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything!"
Zhu Zhi nodded heavily, but he didn't see any women on the Emperor's ship!
You can’t tell me even to death!
"Are you still looking for your beauty?"
Zhu Geng asked tremblingly.
Zhu Zhi looked down and said with a sad face, "Let's go back home."
After landing, Zhu Yunwen took Ma Enhui into this store, made inquiries, then entered that store, chatted with the shopkeeper for a few words, and then returned to the palace in the dead of night.
After eating too much at the royal banquet, it is also good to occasionally eat some folk snacks and delicacies.
At least, Ma Enhui's appetite is much better.
On the couch, Zhu Yunwen was reading "History of the Song Dynasty". Ma Enhui brought a bowl of ginseng soup, sat aside and said, "Is the emperor's trip this time for business and tax matters?"
Zhu Yunwen nodded and said to Ma Enhui: "Sciences, farmers, workers, and merchants have been promoted for thousands of years, and merchants have always been at the lowest status. This is inappropriate."
"Your Majesty, my concubines will not dare to say this. Businessmen move around everywhere and are not engaged in production, but they amass wealth and exploit the people. Taizu banned business, but it has won the hearts of the people."
Ma Enhui retorted.
Zhu Yunwen closed the "History of the Song Dynasty", put it down, and sighed: "Even my beloved concubine thinks so. We know that commercial restructuring is a hundred times more difficult than agricultural restructuring."
Ma Enhui asked puzzledly: "Why did the emperor relax the ban on business? If so, and everyone engages in business, wouldn't the land of Ming Dynasty be barren? How can Ming Dynasty be prosperous if the farmland is overgrown with weeds?"
Zhu Yunwen frowned.
Later generations engaged in market economy, business competition was so fierce, and not all people were engaged in business. Why did we have so many concerns in this ancient time?
Doing business also requires being smart. It doesn’t mean buying goods from Guangzhou with a few pennies and then selling them in Nanjing and making money.
This requires capital, costs, sales, and purchase and sales channels.
Of course, taxes also need to be paid.
Shopping malls are like battlefields, and the proportion of heroes in the mall may not be lower than the proportion of heroes in the battlefield.
"Lifting the ban on merchants can increase tax revenue and improve finances. The future Ming Dynasty will need a lot of money to support it."
Zhu Yunwen wanted to build a truly prosperous Ming Empire, but his ambitious plans were always constrained by limited finances.
In terms of the strategy of the New Army alone, these soldiers guarded the border for the country, and the people of the Ming Dynasty owed them a debt of gratitude! With the current financial resources of the Ming Dynasty, it is simply not enough to spread the new army strategy to the entire army!
It is impossible for the Ministry of Household Affairs to invest all its financial resources into the army. After all, everyone needs to eat, wives need to buy jewelry, and children need to attend private schools. If the court has no money to pay wages, how can they work?
No money, what should I do?
The biggest way for historical dynasties to collect money was to increase taxes and reach out to the people to ask for money.
Isn’t it easy to just open your mouth and add a tax item?
Are there too many weird taxes in history?
The drinking water tax of Zhou Li and Wang Jihu, the single tax of Han Hui Emperor Liu Ying, the shoe donation and barefoot donation of the Later Qing Dynasty, the sun tax of the warlords of the Republic of China...
Apart from bragging about not paying taxes, what can’t be taxed?
But the common people have no money, that is, the base is larger. If one person squeezes out half a silver, the entire empire will have 30 million silver taels, which is enough to last for a year.
As for the life and death of ordinary people, how many people care?
We cannot blame Ma Enhui for not understanding the power of businessmen, because Zhu Yuanzhang was too fierce and suppressed businessmen to the extreme. The proportion of commercial taxes in the central finance of the Ming Dynasty was so pitiful that it made people cry.
Except for the monopolistic salt tax, all commercial taxes, such as tea tax, market and ship tax, passage tax, and business tax, add up to less than one million taels.
Compared with the 30 million taels of the central government's budget, this amount of money only accounts for a single digit, a fraction.
Ma Enhui put the book away and asked softly: "If the emperor lets the merchants go, how much more taxes can be increased?"
Zhu Yunwen stayed at the bed, took the inkstone from the desk, handed it to Ma Enhui, and asked with a smile: "How much does your beloved concubine think this inkstone is worth?"
Ma Enhui played with the inkstone, looked at the relief carving of the dragon pattern of longevity and longevity on the inkstone, and said uncertainly: "This jade inkstone should be worth a thousand taels, right?"
Zhu Yunwen sat aside and said with a smile: "Okay, let's price this jade inkstone at a thousand taels. Then how much tax should we charge?"
Ma Enhui frowned slightly and calculated: "According to the commercial tax set by Taizu, it is thirty-three taels, so these one thousand taels are more than thirty-three taels."
Zhu Yunwen looked at the inkstone and said with a wry smile: "More than thirty-three taels went into the national treasury, but they took away most of it. Haha, this business is of no use even after the ban is lifted. But if the tax of thirty-three taels is adjusted to two Ten taxes are one, ten taxes are one, so what?”
"Ten taxes and one?"
Ma Enhui stood up in panic and said: "Your Majesty, you must not do it. Not to mention that the commercial tax was set by Taizu, but to adjust the thirty tax to one ten tax to one. Wouldn't it suppress merchants and go against the emperor's original intention? It doesn’t match, does it?”
