After Zhu Youzhen returned to the Qianqing Palace from the arsenal, his mood was a little complicated.

He was not only happy for the development of the Ming Dynasty's military industry, but also worried and angry about the problems of the people, and it had been half a year since the reform, and there were still people who could not solve the problem of food and clothing.

Eating two meals a day and eating porridge at a time, what is this concept, that is, there is a serious shortage of food, and you can only barely make ends meet without starving to death.

Since Taizu ascended the throne, the tax of the Ming Dynasty is the lowest in the entire history of China, about 40 taxes per person, when this tax was formulated, Emperor Taizu fully considered the vital interests of the people.

He himself was born in poverty, when his parents and brothers were starved to death, and he himself became a monk in order not to starve to death.

Since Zhu Youzhen's crossing, in order to reduce the burden on the people, the people in the north have directly been exempted from taxes for three years without receiving a penny, and they will still not have enough to eat, which should be the problem of the household department.

When Zhu Youzhen thought of this, he wanted to remove Ni Yuanlu at that time, but he was completely derelict in his duties, and he did nothing in a high position.

Just when Zhu Youzhen was thinking about removing Ni Yuanlu, the eunuch came in and said:

"Your Majesty, Ni Yuanlu, the head of the household, asks to see you!"

"It's good to come, say Cao Cao Cao is here, let him in."

"Obey"

was about to settle accounts with Ni Yuanlu, but he actually sent it directly to the door, and Zhu Youzhen immediately asked Ni Yuanlu to come in.

Ni Yuanlu stood outside the hall with his head down, his mood was very low, he was ready to go home and farm, and when he saw the little eunuch come out, he hurriedly stepped forward and asked:

"Father-in-law, what did the emperor say?"

The little eunuch arched his hand to Ni Yuanlu:

"Lord Ni, Your Majesty has summoned you!"

Ni Yuanlu bowed his hand to the little eunuch, stepped into the Qianqing Palace, and saw the emperor sitting on the dragon chair with a very unkind face, Ni Yuanlu hurriedly knelt on the ground.

"Wechen see Your Majesty."

Under normal circumstances, the minister does not need to kneel when he sees the driver, he just bows and salutes, but Ni Yuanlu feels guilty, and he thinks it is better to admit his mistakes honestly.

Zhu Youzhen was already angry with Ni Yuanlu, and when he saw him paying a direct salute, Zhu Youzhen said angrily:

"Don't be polite, Ni Yuanlu, you came just in time, I just wanted to find you, first tell me what you are looking for?"

Ni Yuanlu didn't dare to be flat, knelt and climbed a few steps in front of Zhu Youzhen, and held the account book in his hand high above his head:

"Your Majesty, the household department has counted the taxes of the Ming Dynasty this year, but the number is very different, and the micro-ministers really can't check where the mistakes are, please punish your majesty ......"

Zhu Youzhen was a little confused by Ni Yuanlu's move at that time, and immediately took over the household statistics account book to watch, and was immediately overjoyed when he saw it, and got up to help Ni Yuanlu.

"This is a good thing, Aiqing said what's wrong?"

Ni Yuanlu shook his head helplessly and bowed back again:

"Your Majesty, the difference in the number is too great, my Ming Dynasty tax to the treasury is up to four million taels, but you look at the difference of ten times this amount, and it is still tax-free in most areas, this is absolutely impossible, when Your Majesty asks Weichen for silver, Weichen can't even take out one-tenth, isn't it a capital crime."

It turned out that after all the taxes were paid, the tax revenue of the Ming treasury actually reached more than 43 million taels of silver, which was a figure that had never been reached in the entire history of the Ming Dynasty.

The displacement of the people, the reform of the land, the tax exemption for the whole of the north for another three years, there must be something wrong with this number, and it is very problematic.

Zhu Youzhen laughed:

"Aiqing, sit down, have you seen where the big tax collectors are?"

"Back to Your Majesty, the agricultural tax has reached an unprecedented more than seven million taels, and most areas are still exempt from taxes, which is absolutely abnormal, and the commercial tax of more than 30 million taels is even more abnormal.

Don't think Ni Yuanlu is stupid, he was also just reused by Zhu Youzhen this year, he used to be a squire in the military department, and he was a few days of household books.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty couldn't take out hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, otherwise he wouldn't have let Emperor Chongzhen hang himself on the coal mountain.

But suddenly found that the treasury tax silver actually reached more than 40 million taels, which suddenly made Ni Yuanlu at a loss, as if in a dream, thinking that it was too normal for serious miscalculations to occur somewhere.

If we talk about levying business taxes, this has been done before, but it is already an astronomical amount of hundreds of thousands of taels a year.

"Hahaha......"

Seeing Ni Yuanlu's bewildered appearance, trembling all over, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help laughing, he laughed at Ni Yuanlu's smart life and was confused for a while.

got up and walked in front of Ni Yuanlu, Zhu Youzhen reached out and patted Ni Yuanlu's shoulder, almost slapping him from the chair to the ground.

"Aiqing, do you calculate how much Yulu the King of the Ming Dynasty needs a year? I tell you that there are twenty-seven vassal kings, dozens of county kings, and even more generals of the Zhenguo, and the income of these families alone has reached more than five million taels of silver.

So what now? There are less than ten vassal kings, and even fewer county kings and town generals, and the Yulu alone is reduced by more than three million taels of silver, and they also have to pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, their five million taels of silver, the court does not need to pay a tael of silver, is it more than five million taels of silver?

It is good for ordinary people in the north to be exempt from tax for three to five years, but the squires and wealthy officials and businessmen must pay taxes in full, and their family's land is almost more than that of thousands of ordinary families combined, so although the north is exempt from taxes, there will be a lot more tax silver.

Now mines, salt mines, etc., are not allowed to be privately owned, but the imperial court will not evade taxes, and this part will be paid in full.

The Jiangnan Consortium, the Jin Merchants, the Hui Merchants, the Shaanxi Merchants, the Lu Gang and so on are all rich and rival countries, and they only pay a small part of the taxes, which are enough to reach 10 million taels of silver, and they are not considered smuggling at sea.

My Royal Chamber of Commerce also paid as much as 3 million taels of tax silver, and all of the above are newly increased tax silver, so what is impossible about 40 million taels?

Is Daming short of silver? Is Da Ming really poor? Of course not, the poor are the treasury, and the rich are the collusion between officials and businessmen, who earn a lot of money and don't want to pay a penny of taxes.

As a result, a lot of silver flowed into the hands of the Eastern Captives and Liukou, putting all the heavy burden on the people, can the people not rebel? I am a common people, and I will rebel!

In addition, I tell you Ni Yuanlu that there will be more taxes next year, and in the next five years, the treasury tax will reach hundreds of millions of taels, and I hope that you household officials will not be scared to death! ”

Zhu Youzhen had already made a rough calculation, knowing that this year's tax would not be less than 30 million taels of silver, but he was still surprised that it reached more than 40 million taels.

The emperor's words immediately made Ni Yuanlu pause, although he didn't dare to imagine where hundreds of millions of taels of silver would come from in five years, but he also knew that the household department had not miscalculated the accounts this year.

"Oh my God......"

Ni Yuanlu prostrated at Zhu Youzhen's feet again, and he was already in tears:

"Your Majesty, you are really a god, not only to destroy the exiles and kill the Eastern captivity, save the people and the water in the fire, but also make the Ming Dynasty brilliant again in such a short time, and the Emperor of Han Wu and Qin is nothing more than this in front of you."