After leaving the palace and returning to the house, it was already getting late.
After dinner, Zhu Yunzhen locked himself in the room.
The night is getting darker, and the sweet sound of cicadas can be heard outside.
Zhu Yunxuan looked at the candlelight and began to think.
Lao Zhu asked him to do two things. The first was to write a memorial on collecting business taxes, and he had to write it himself.
The second case is the case of the judge’s father and son.
No matter what Zhu Yunxuan thought, he felt something was wrong.
It is not the turn of a seven-year-old child to do these things.
I'm afraid no one would believe it if I told you.
What is Lao Zhu’s intention?
"Wait!" Zhu Yunzhen felt a flash of lightning suddenly flash in his mind: "Could it be..."
In an instant, an idea came to his mind.
Could it be that Lao Zhu wanted to establish himself as the emperor's grandson?
Want him to come out and do something for others to see?
Otherwise, how could it be...
"No, it's impossible." Zhu Yunzhen shook his head quickly and quickly denied the idea.
It is unlikely that Lao Zhu wanted to make him the prince.
On the one hand, he also has a group of uncles.
Even if Zhu Xi is not suitable, there are still Zhu Fan, Zhu Di, Zhu Xi...
In addition, there are two brothers.
Whether it is Zhu Yunwen or Zhu Yunxi, in Lao Zhu's eyes, they should be more suitable to be grandsons.
Whether it is to establish a son or a grandson, it will never be his turn.
What's more, Zhu Yunzhen was only seven years old at this time.
And Lao Zhu is already sixty-five years old this year. He is already a candle in the wind and may die at any time.
At least that's what everyone thinks except him who knows the history.
If that day, Lao Zhu suddenly traveled west on a crane, how could his seven-year-old grandson succeed to the throne and suppress the ministers and the vassal kings?
Although it is possible to set up auxiliary ministers to help the young emperor manage the court affairs.
However, that was also a helpless move. It was only done when there was no one else to stand on.
That would be a very high risk for the imperial family.
If one thing goes wrong, the auxiliary minister will become the auxiliary emperor!
Now, there are actually several candidates for the crown prince.
There is no need to leave the older one alone and raise a younger child.
Who knows whether the auxiliary minister will hold the emperor hostage to order the princes?
Finally, even if Lao Zhu really wanted to do this, the whole government would not allow it.
It is a rule recognized by all the people in the court to establish the superior rather than the virtuous.
Although Lao Zhu is an emperor, it is not easy to break through.
At this time, Zhu Yunmin and Zhu Yunxi are already in their teens after all, so they are not young!
If they were only a few years old, they really wouldn't be able to establish any grandson for the emperor. They would only choose from among the kings of Qin, Jin and Yan...
Zhu Yunzhen thought about it and did not believe that Lao Zhu would risk the disapproval of the world and establish himself as the emperor's grandson.
With this out of the way, we decided to start by analyzing two tasks.
Gradually, his thoughts slowly became clear.
The first one is to collect business tax, which is easy to understand.
Perhaps it was just as Lao Zhu said, just to test him and see what he would say.
Anyway, it's just a memorial, not an imperial edict.
Lao Zhu also said, it doesn't matter if you write it wrong.
It's like a parent assigning a child a composition about national events.
It’s not that I really want children to participate in this, but I want to take this opportunity to see what the children think.
The second item is more interesting. He is actually asked to handle the case of the Bu family.
Historically, it can be said that there are almost no such cases when a case is handled at the age of seven.
What does Lao Zhu mean?
Zhu Yunzhen thought hard and couldn't think of a reason.
Suddenly, Zhu Yunxuan thought of the identity of the Bu family.
They work for Sapphire.
Sapphire? !
The blue jade case!
Zhu Yunzhen's eyes suddenly widened, as if a door suddenly opened in his mind.
The Lan Jade case involved tens of thousands of people.
There must be many corrupt officials among these people, and the water is deep.
Could it be that...there are a lot of things involved in the Bu family?
Zhu Yunzhen knew that the reason why Lao Zhu didn't move away from the Bu family was definitely not because of connivance. A person like him who was very perceptive would definitely be aware of the actions of the Bu family and his son.
The only possibility is that the Bu family and his son involve too many people.
Lao Zhu never had the right opportunity to take action.
And now, the opportunity has come.
The reason why Lao Zhu asked him to handle the case was probably because he wanted a child to muddy the waters.
In this way, Lao Zhu can watch from behind and catch them all in one fell swoop.
Yes, that's for sure.
The more Zhu Yunzhen thought about it, the more it made sense.
How could Lao Zhu not know that a seven-year-old child cannot judge a case?
He just wanted to let himself mess around, and he just wanted to keep this matter in chaos.
Zhu Yunzhen breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a big stone in his chest had suddenly been let go.
As long as Lao Zhu doesn't want him to inherit the throne, everything will be fine.
Zhu Yunxu didn't want to be the emperor.
What's good about being imprisoned on a dragon's chair in his prime years, working hard for the country every day, endless memorials, and endless political affairs.
Life is alive, grass and trees are in autumn.
It's just a journey after all.
If you work too hard, you are a fool.
It’s all about romance, traveling around mountains and rivers, this is life.
After figuring out Lao Zhu's idea, Zhu Yunzhen probably knew what to do.
The first is to collect business taxes.
Although Lao Zhu may just want to test him, Zhu Yunxuan knows very well that as long as he does this well, he will have a greater say in front of Lao Zhu on the matter of establishing the crown prince.
So not only do it, but also do it well and do it beautifully.
"Collecting business tax... um..." Zhu Yunzhen held his chin and frowned slightly.
This is no small matter and there are many difficulties involved.
Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.
In ancient times, although the status of merchants was not high, they definitely had considerable power.
In fact, the beneficiaries of low commercial taxes are the wealthy businessmen of the gentry represented by Su Yang.
And they have huge energy in the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom.
If we want to increase business taxes, we will offend these people.
This matter affects the whole body at once, and nothing can be done carelessly.
However, this is a headache for Lao Zhu.
This peasant emperor, who always raised his butcher's knife high, must have his own ideas.
As for him, he just wants to know how to raise the high business taxes.
This is not something that can be decided solely by imperial power.
Businessmen are different from farmers.
Farmers' fields can be harvested as long as they are measured clearly and apportioned.
How much land does each household have and how much tax should be collected? All we have to do is follow the rules.
But businessmen are completely different.
In addition to the fixed shops, there are many merchants running around.
How big a business they do, how much money they make, their purchases and shipments...
It is unclear how many goods are sold in the shop every day and how much income is generated.
These things are very complicated, and they all depend on what they say. Who can know the real situation?
Even if you are a regular businessman, it is not difficult to falsify your books.
Maybe not before, but with high taxes, there is no guarantee that someone will not take risks.
Later generations had a perfect tax system and developed science and technology, so it was not easy to collect business taxes.
Under such conditions, many businessmen still use various loopholes to evade taxes.
How much more so in this day and age?
It is not that easy to solve this matter.
The business tax in Ming Dynasty is very low, but even so, this very low business tax does not actually bring in much.
Many of them were collected indiscriminately.
To put it bluntly, it relies on sharing and coercion.
Some merchants overcharged, some undercharged, and it was a mess.
In any case, merchants who overcharge cannot afford to offend the government, so they can only admit it with their noses pinched.
Merchants who charge less are naturally happier.
But in Zhu Yunxun's view, this is always a serious problem.
Chaotic taxation has a great impact on business development.
"What should we do?" Zhu Yunzhen muttered to himself while leaning on his chin.
Time is passing by gradually, and the night is getting quieter and quieter.
But Zhu Yunzhen's brain was spinning rapidly.
"If you want to collect a small amount of business tax, you must have something to prove the businessman's income..."
Suddenly, Zhu Yunzhen's eyes lit up, and he patted his thigh: "Yes!"
