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For the vast majority of politicians, the so-called "position" is just an irrelevant thing that can be discarded at any time, and only interests are important and eternal.

To put it simply, it is the interests that determine the position!

Therefore, on the basis of today's court discussion, Shen Changmao clearly stated his position against the rectification of commercial taxes, because such a position can bring him a lot of popularity, reputation, and supporters, and can also stabilize his authority and position, even if Shen Changmao knows very well that Emperor Deqing supports the rectification of commercial taxes, and his position is likely to offend Emperor Deqing, but Shen Changmao still has no hesitation.

However, Shen Changmao also knew that the erosion of commercial taxation was indeed a very serious problem, so after this problem was exposed, under the righteousness of the imperial court, the officials did not have any legitimate reason to oppose the imperial court's rectification of commercial taxation, and could only delay and sabotage it secretly as much as possible - but sooner or later, Emperor Deqing would accumulate enough strength to suppress all opposition voices, and then unswervingly reverse the erosion of commercial taxation.

Shen Changmao knew this very well, but fortunately, he didn't have to succeed in preventing the rectification of commercial taxes, he only needed to clearly show his posture of opposing the rectification of commercial taxes, and then cooperate with the officials to sabotage secretly.

Because of this, after hearing Zhao Junchen's proposal, Shen Changmao did not immediately refute it, although Zhao Junchen's idea sounds absurd and bizarre, but it is also feasible, and Zhao Junchen has blocked all the flaws that can be refuted in advance, "absurd and bizarre" is certainly a reason to prevent it from being implemented, but it is not a decisive reason...... Most importantly. Shen Changmao was also misled by Zhao Junchen's statement, believing that Zhao Junchen was just "selecting a shipping company" for a pilot at the beginning. It doesn't seem like a big threat, and it's easy to undercovertly sabotage.

Thereupon. After Shen Changmao came out, his attitude was not resolute, but he said: "Your Majesty, Lord Zhao's proposal sounds quite ridiculous, it seems to be a little whimsical, but I am afraid that it may not be able to work......

Zhao Junchen had a serious expression and said: "That's why the lower officials will propose to 'pilot' first, Shen Shoufu, you also know that the erosion of commercial taxes is the current situation." It has seriously affected the turnover of money and grain in the imperial court, and it is related to the century-old survival of the Ming Dynasty, and it must be reversed...... Otherwise, if any method is completely rejected without attempt, then the imperial court will never be able to reverse the erosive status quo of commercial taxation. ”

After hearing Zhao Junchen's answer, Shen Changmao asked rhetorically: "However, the old man wants to know. How long will Zhao's pilot last? What if Lord Zhao's attempt fails to bear fruit in the end? ”

Regarding Shen Changmao's inquiry, Zhao Junchen was still prepared, and immediately replied: "Xia Guan thinks." The pilot period is more than one year, and if the pilot is completed, the commercial tax paid by the shipping company to the imperial court can be greatly increased. And it did not cause much confusion in the situation, so the idea of the lower officials could be gradually promoted; Contrarily. If the results are not great, or if they cause large-scale chaos in the situation between the government and the opposition, then it is natural that it should be stopped immediately. Then try something else. ”

Shen Changmao confirmed again: "In other words, Lord Zhao only needs a boat company and a year to prove the feasibility of his plan?" If it doesn't have much effect, or if it causes large-scale chaos in the situation between the government and the opposition, can the imperial court immediately stop this plan? ”

Zhao Junchen nodded again and said, "That's right." ”

After getting Zhao Junchen's confirmation, Shen Changmao turned his head to Emperor Deqing and said, "Your Majesty, if this is the case, the old minister does not object to Lord Zhao's proposal. ”

Shen Changmao's final confirmation seemed to be all nonsense, because Zhao Junchen had explained everything very clearly before this.

But these words are not just simple nonsense, because these nonsense are actually Shen Changmao's hints to the officials - he is hinting at how the officials should stop Zhao Junchen's business tax rectification plan.

Obviously, most of the officials are smart people, and they are the best at disobeying yang and yin and secretly stumbling, and they also understand Shen Changmao's hints.

So, after hearing Shen Changmao's statement, all the officials tacitly agreed that they did not continue to refute, and they all acquiesced to Shen Changmao's point of view.

In this way, under Zhao Junchen's misdirection and concealment, the biggest resistance was solved.

On the other side, after hearing Zhao Junchen's explanation and Shen Changmao's statement, Emperor Deqing frowned slightly.

As a representative of the interests of the imperial court, Emperor Deqing naturally hoped that the commercial tax problem of the imperial court could be solved as soon as possible, but Zhao Junchen's proposal seemed to be a little petty, and it may not be successful.

But on the other hand, Emperor Deqing also knew that it was the common will of the entire bureaucracy to oppose the rectification of commercial taxes, and even if he was the leader of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, he could not easily confront the entire bureaucracy, even if Emperor Deqing was now supported by Zhou Shangjing, but the scope of cooperation between the two was only to stabilize the situation between the government and the opposition, and did not include the rectification of commercial taxes, and on the issue of commercial taxes, even Zhou Shangjing may not be able to control the thoughts of the members of the "Zhou Party" - this is also the reason why Zhou Shangjing has been silent before.

Therefore, no matter how anxious Emperor Deqing is, he can only slowly divide the opposition forces and achieve his goal little by little.

In this respect, Zhao's proposal is at least a successful start, a necessary attempt, and not a bad one.

So, in a contradictory mood, Emperor Deqing turned his gaze to Zhou Shangjing and asked: "Zhou Aiqing, you are an old minister in the court, what do you think of Zhao Aiqing's proposal?" ”

After hearing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Zhou Shangjing slowly came out of the ranks, and then expressed his opinion in agreement, and said: "Your Majesty, Zhao Shangshu's proposal seems to be a little strange, but for hundreds of years, my dynasty has also received the assistance of Hui merchants and Jin merchants when it was in the salt and iron official camp, so it can be seen that Zhao Shangshu's proposal is not without precedent, so the old minister also agrees with Shen Shoufu's statement, since it is only a pilot, then it can be tried for a period of time, and it may be fruitful." ”

Zhou Shangjing was different from Shen Changmao, Shen Changmao only saw the benefits of his opposition to the commercial tax rectification, but Zhou Shangjing also saw the huge benefits generated by the commercial tax rectification, whether it belonged to the imperial court or his own interests.

In fact, before this, Zhou Shangjing had reached a tacit understanding with Zhao Junchen, and Zhou Shangjing would assist Zhao Junchen in completing the plan of commercial tax rectification, but at the same time, Zhao Junchen also needed to divide a part of the interests and hand them over to Zhou Shangjing.

To put it simply, Shen Changmao is "interests determine the position", while Zhou Shangjing is "let the interests be consistent with his own position", but he is much more clever than Shen Changmao.

Therefore, Zhou Shangjing also supported the imperial court's rectification of commercial taxes, but he, like Emperor Deqing, had been careful to hide his true thoughts in order to avoid arousing the hostility of hundreds of officials.

Now, seeing that Shen Changmao has changed his attitude, and the opposition of the officials is no longer strong, Zhou Shangjing has finally expressed his attitude.

Zhou Shangjing's attitude was very cunning, but it did achieve the effect.

Affected by Zhou Shangjing's statement, Emperor Deqing hesitated again for a moment, and finally agreed to Zhao Junchen's plan, and said: "Since Zhao Aiqing has already had an idea, then I will leave this matter to you to be fully responsible, allow you to choose a shipping company, and give this shipping company the privilege of tax exemption, and then make up for the loss of commercial taxes of the imperial court in the form of dividend sharing, and I hope that Zhao Aiqing you will not let me down in the end." ”

When he spoke, Emperor Deqing did not ask the opinion of the crown prince Zhu Heyu at all.

In fact, because of the various performances of the crown prince Zhu and Yu, Emperor Deqing has decided not to let the prince Zhu and Yu continue to participate in the affairs of commercial taxation.

On the other hand, the crown prince Zhu Heyu, who had previously vowed to prevent Zhao Junchen from obtaining the right to rectify the commercial tax, had no reaction at this time - in the eyes of the prince Zhu Heyu, the commercial tax rectification should be a strict suppression of smuggling, should be a resolute governance of the officials, and should be a drastic change in the status quo, rather than looking for a shipping company to carry out a pilot - therefore, the prince Zhu Heyu did not have any objections, in his opinion, Zhao Junchen's plan was completely meaningless, and it was completely out of step with the commercial tax rectification.

In this way, for Zhao Junchen, another major obstacle has also disappeared.

Originally, if Zhao Junchen wanted to take over the authority of commercial tax rectification, even if he had the support of Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing, he would inevitably encounter many obstacles, and even if he could finally achieve his goal, he would definitely go through countless arguments, compromises, and restrictions.

But now, under Zhao Junchen's concealment and misdirection, this authority finally fell into the hands of Zhao Junchen.

Everyone underestimated Zhao Junchen's "pilot" plan, no one could have imagined that in just one year, just a small boat line, just a seemingly inconspicuous attempt, how much movement Zhao Junchen would make in the end, and what a far-reaching impact it would have!

Therefore, when the dust settles, Zhao Junchen will get the greatest benefits!

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…… (To be continued.) )