The opening time of the township examination every year is the ninth day of August, because it is in the autumn, so it is called the autumn season.

At the beginning of June, Guiyang scholars set off one after another and set off for Kunming, Yunnan.

Historically, this year there will be a Guizhou scholar named Tian Qiu, and after 25 years, he will successfully let Guizhou open its own township.

He said in the recital: "Guizhou (Guiyang) to Yunnan, more than 2,000 miles apart, such as Sinan, Yongning and other prefectures to Yunnan, and there are three or four thousand miles. And in midsummer, it is even more difficult, the mountains are steep, the miasma is invaded, and the Confucianism goes to the examination, which is the most painful. There are those who are poor and have no means of income, there are those who are young and weak and cannot walk on their path, there are those who are impatient with hard work and return to the middle way, and those who are sick in the middle of the miasma and are sick in the middle of the way, there are often ......"

Tian Qiu himself is a native of Sinan Mansion, that is, "a person who goes to Yunnan for three or four thousand miles", and he has to walk more than 1,000 miles more than Wang Yuan to take the exam.

If you don't rush in advance, you can't do it, and in case of any accidents, you can have room for maneuver.

Among Wang Yangming's core disciples, only Wang Yuan, Li Ying, Yue Zhen, and Zou Mu went to the examination, and the others gave up for various reasons, and Chen Wenxue and others did not even participate in the scientific examination last year.

The main reason is that the cost of the exam is too high, and the students are not sure, so they simply do not go to the township exam. Once and again, it will be delayed for many months, not to mention the cost, but also the physical cost. It's like other provinces, whether you're sure or not, let's try your luck in the exam first.

Among the four, Wang Yuan and Li Ying rode horses, and Yue Zhen and Zou Mu rode donkeys.

Zou Mu, the word is near benevolence. This gentleman is nearly 30 years old, he joined Wang Yangming's door last summer, and he is also studying at the Civilization Academy, and he especially likes to run errands for Wang Yangming.

In addition to Wang Yuan, Li Ying, Yue Zhen and Zou Mu all brought scholars, and they were scholars who were used to fighting.

Chengxi Station.

A caravan of more than thirty horses was waiting on the official road, and there were a few scholars who went to the exam.

Wang Yuan and the others came late and hurried to join the caravan.

This is the usual way of Guizhou scholars, following the caravan together, and there are many people to take care of. Moreover, the caravan was familiar with the road conditions and knew where to stop, so as not to sleep in the wilderness when it was dark.

Li Ying hurriedly dismounted and apologized: "Qin Boss, I'm really sorry to keep you waiting." ”

Qin's name is Qin Hao, he is the leader of this caravan, and he specializes in trading on the Yunnan-Guizhou Post Road, and he is contacted by Li Ying's family.

Qin Hao was tanned and shiny, his arms and legs were very thick, and he smiled coolly: "It doesn't matter, I didn't delay anything, Li Sanlang is too polite." ”

Wang Yuan and the others also dismounted to greet each other, and followed the other soldiers who set off with the caravan to greet each other.

Knowing that Wang Yuan was a famous prodigy, everyone's attitude became more and more respectful. Even among the caravans, there were many people who secretly looked at him, as if they wanted to study the difference between Wenquxing and ordinary people.

Although the caravan had horses, the horses carried the goods, and all of them led the horses on foot.

While observing the terrain along the way, Wang Yuan chatted with Qin Hao: "Qin Boss, you can make a lot of money this trip to Kunming, right?" ”

Qin Hao smiled: "What do I earn?" I'm just a foot seller. ”

Well, it seems that it is not the boss, but the captain of the transport team, who is only responsible for bringing people over the freight.

Wang Yuan asked again: "What are the things that are transported?" ”

Qin Hao saw that the prodigy was very interested in this, so he said in detail: "It is mainly some Huguang goods, which are transported from Guiyang to Kunming to make the difference. The trip back is a real deal, from Kunming to Guizhou, our host has salt. ”

Wang Yuan inquired carefully and learned that this route also belonged to one of the tea and horse trade routes, but it was the one that was least valued.

The busiest tea and horse trade route is the Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan line, which directly enters Sichuan from Yunnan through Qianxi, and does not need to pass through Guiyang at all. The Sichuan-Guizhou line was also busy, transporting tea horses from Guizhou to the north, with the ultimate destination being the Shaanxi-Gansu-Zang region.

"I heard that business taxes are very low?" Wang Yuan said curiously.

"Is the business tax still low? Who do you listen to? Qin Hao exclaimed, "Business taxes are so high that people are scared to death, bad luck, and losing all your money are very common." ”

The commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty was indeed one out of thirty, and books, pen and ink, farm tools, fruits and vegetables, livestock, and wedding and funeral items were also exempt from tax.

But that's just business tax!

A transit tax is also levied at the Jindu Pass, and its tax rate ranges from 2 out of 30 to 1 out of 10. For example, wood, when you pass the level, you can draw one out of ten; firewood and thatch should also be drawn from three; Mane and yellow vine are twenty out of thirty.

When encountering unreasonable corrupt officials, a transit tax was levied on the caravan when it set off, and the timber merchant had already been drained of one-tenth of his capital before he could go on the road.

During the Xuande period, in order to implement the Daming treasure banknote, the store tax was also increased by five times in the bazaar. Large fruit and vegetable growers are also targeted, and as long as they are loaded and wholesaled, they must pay taxes, which violates Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral system of not paying taxes on fruits and vegetables. In addition, there is a river transport banknote customs, and the transit tax is repeatedly levied, and the tax is collected according to the size of the vessel.

In addition to this, there is also the Imperial Store.

This thing was flourishing in the Zhengde period, and Gonggong Liu made great contributions.

In Beijing alone, six imperial stores were set up to tax merchants without any legal basis. Now the Huangdian has spread to the surrounding area with Kita-Naoli as the center. The eunuchs played the emperor's signboard, intercepted the merchants who came and went, and the levies were all based on their will, and they often "killed people, and did nothing".

After Liu Jin fell, the imperial store not only did not close, but spread across the country.

Because Zhu Houzhao has already tasted the sweetness, the business tax levied by the imperial store is not taken by the government, but directly put into the emperor's small treasury. In the end, even the small traders had to pay money, and the eunuchs raised a bunch of idle people to collect it along the street.

Huangdian belongs to the middle of the Ming Dynasty and is the most harmful to commercial development. Because the object and amount of levy are very arbitrary, the businessman has no bottom in his heart, and there is always a sense of precariousness.

Moreover, the eunuchs levied so many taxes, and I am afraid that there will not be one in the hands of the emperor who really goes to the emperor, and most of them have been privately swallowed by the eunuchs.

The emperor did this, and the vassal kings and relatives were naturally not idle, often setting up private checkpoints and indiscriminately collecting transit taxes, and local officials did not dare to take care of them.

If anyone insisted on saying that the commercial tax was low in the Ming Dynasty, he was afraid that he would not be beaten to death by the merchants.

Are you joking when you are valuing agriculture and suppressing business?

Those wealthy businessmen and tycoons, without exception, all colluded with eunuchs, relatives, and the government to achieve the monopoly purpose of bullying and dominating the market.

Serious businessmen are unable to move an inch, and often go bankrupt and end up inexplicably. Therefore, after having money, he trained his children and grandchildren to study and become officials, and at the same time bought land frantically, after all, the local owner is much more reliable than the businessman.

Wang Yuan chatted with Qin Jiaotou for most of the day, and he was completely speechless when he listened.

The repeated taxation of the Ming Dynasty was too serious, and the local tax power was too large, and the central government was always short of money. The emperor was also short of money, so he asked the eunuchs to set up an imperial shop to fool around, but the emperor didn't make much money himself, and he fattened up a lot of eunuchs.

The imperial court must retract its financial power!

"Ruoxu, what are you asking all this for? Do you want to do business in the future? Yue Zhen smiled.

Wang Yuan said: "If an official does not observe the people's feelings, he will be like a doctor who does not want to hear about it." Governing indiscriminately is like indiscriminate use of medicine, shouldn't this Ming be terminally ill? ”

Yue Zhen was immediately solemn, and directly dismounted and saluted: "If this is a golden and jade good word, I have been taught!" ”

Wang Yuan laughed: "I'll just say it casually." ”

"No," Zou Mu shook his head, "Although Ruoxu is a young man, his vision is longer than ours. I am almost in the year of my establishment, and what I think about every day is the imperial examination, so how can I ever hope to heal this Ming dynasty? It's a shame. ”

Li Ying pointed to the mountains and mountains of the four fields and said with a smile: "You heal the rivers and mountains, but I have to go through the four directions and repair the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty like an iron bucket." Therefore, I should also observe the mountains and rivers along the way, and I will definitely be able to use it in the future when I lead troops to fight. ”

Qin smiled and said nothing, and walked honestly. There were many scholars who went to the exam with him, and they were all enthusiastic before the lift, and there was no news at all after the lift.

is nothing more than being assigned a petty official, struggling on the way to the office, how can he still have the energy to heal the Ming Dynasty?

Let's just say that Zou Mu in front of him was also admitted to the examination in history, but he could only be a teacher for the rest of his life.