The eunuch came out of the Dongnuan Pavilion happily and went out of the palace to Li Shouhan's mansion in the capital.

Looking at the figure that was almost cheering, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't be happy, and even felt a little gloomy.

"Go on."

In the warm pavilion, Jin Yiwei commanded Luo Yanghe and several stewards and eunuchs of the East Factory to lead a few little eunuchs, and they didn't dare to take an extra breath. Kneel on the ground and bow your head.

"The slaves and maids reported the incident from below, and the news of Ning Yuanbo's entry into Beijing spread in the capital the day before yesterday, and the people in the capital who were originally a little flustered have settled down a lot."

"In the capital, the price of silver money has immediately stabilized a lot, and the situation of expensive silver has greatly improved, and the people of Shengdou are no longer in a hurry to exchange the copper coins in their hands for silver dollars. However, the jewelry market in the jewelry market outside the front door fell by about 30%. ”

"Yesterday, the slaves and maids inspected the Gangwa City, Chaoyang Gate and other places, and the price of grain, oil and cloth in the capital also fell slightly, compared with the previous time when the slave chieftain Abatai bandits disturbed Gyeonggi, the price fell by nearly one and a half. The shopkeeper of many small businesses said that Ning Yuanbo is here, and this Jiannu is going to die and be defeated, and the southern sea route is unblocked, and the southern Cao rice from Tianjin will continue to arrive in the capital, and at this time it is still hoarding, not looking for death? I just packed it up and sold it. Some shrewd businesses still have the words "Our Store Receives Tongbao" written on the door to attract business. ”

The news of Ning Yuanbo's entry into Beijing can affect the price of people's hearts in the capital, and with such strength and power, even he, a great tomorrow, would not dare to think of it.

"Your Majesty. Weichen's subordinates have also heard that many noble ministers in the capital are preparing to jointly invite Ning Yuanbo, and there seems to be some reason for this. ”

"What are they going to do?! If you have close contacts with foreign ministers, won't they be afraid of my royal law? Aren't you afraid of the ancestral system? ”

"The slaves and maids are in ambush on the mansion of the lords, it seems that the lords in the capital are very envious of the lords in the capital, who can do a big business with Ning Yuanbo, so they push Zhou Guozhang as the leader, and plan to do some business with Ning Yuanbo......"

"Whoa!"

Some angry Chongzhen pushed the cinnabar, pen inkstone, and song Shu on the table to the ground. There was a sickly flush on his face.

The reason why there is such a table xiàn. It's all because of a note from the imperial historians.

Unexpectedly, this song did not impeach Ning Yuanbo, but made a detailed analysis from many aspects such as the use of soldiers, money and food, territory, and personnel.

"Now the soldiers of the imperial court. It is nothing more than the Nanyue Army and the Liaodong Army! It is a fighter who dares to fight. The Nanyue Army was superior to the Liaodong Army. However, although the Liaodong army and horses were not as capable of fighting as the Nanyue army, they were all soldiers of the imperial court. The Nanyue Army was all Ning Yuanbo's private soldiers. The money of the soldiers, and the instruments they use. The wealth of the family of Uncle Yuanning. The military orders and the orders received were all sent by Ning Yuanbo, and the soldiers only knew that there was Ning Yuanbo. ”

"Today, most of the expenses of the imperial court, military salaries and people's food are from Ning Yuanbo. If one day, Ning Yuanbo's enshrinement can't arrive, then what should my Ming court do? ”

"The ministers have also heard that the land under the jurisdiction of Ning Yuanbo is no less than tens of thousands of miles, the fertile fields are vast, the fertile fields are thousands of miles, and the people can sing with their stomachs up. In such a country of abundance, why didn't Ning Yuanbo hand it over to the imperial court? Since I was ordered by the Ming court, why can't my court send officials to promote kinghood? The whole world is not the king's land, why is Nanzhong a different world? ”

"Since Ning Yuanbo is an official of my Ming Dynasty and is deeply favored by the emperor, why are the official positions, military system, and tax system of his department not the same as my Ming Dynasty? What is the intention? ”

This sparse words and sentences are like a sharp sword piercing the foci in Chongzhen's heart.

The Liaodong Army only receives a high salary, but the ability to fight is very lacking, and he can bear this. Inland officials and soldiers, such as Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, Liu Zeqing and others, killed good people and risked their merits, looted prefectures and counties, and did not obey military orders, but he could also endure it. Because these are only diseases of scabies, and they will not threaten his imperial throne.

However, the imperial historians directly pointed out that Li Shouhan's danger to the Ming court was actually far better than that of Liaodong thieves and inland bandits.

"His people, with strong ships and cannons, and strong armies, why don't they serve His Majesty with both hands for the purpose of stabilizing the four seas? His people, the treasury is full, the money and food are abundant, why don't you give it to His Majesty with both hands, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty are rich in food and clothing enough to thank His Majesty for his kindness? ”

"All of this is enough to see the heart of daily disobedience!"

"Why don't I know the harm of reusing Ning Yuanbo, it's like drinking a donkey to quench your thirst and put out a fire?"

With the arrival of Wang Chengen, Luo Yangxing and the others retreated with relief, leaving only a few rough little eunuchs to clean up the messy various items thrown by Chongzhen in the warm pavilion, and then retreated respectfully, leaving only the pair of masters and servants in the warm pavilion to discuss secretly.

"But at the moment, the court has neither money nor food, nor any available soldiers. What should you do with me? ”

"Your Majesty, since you have announced that Uncle Ning Yuan will enter the palace today, why don't you let him present a brief to the emperor to see how to raise money and food? No matter what strategy he proposed, it was all brought to the court for the ministers to discuss. ”

In this way, those civil and military ministers and court nobles who regard money as their fate are bound to regard Li Shouhan as a beast of prey, worship ghosts and gods and stay away, what are they talking about forming a party with him?

Wang Chengen had dealt with Li Shouhan many times, and had also been to Hue, Shouhan's old nest, many times, and he had some understanding of the money and grain raising of the Nanyue Army, and he knew very well that as long as Li Shouhan brought the money and grain system he promoted in Nanzhong to the court for the courtiers to discuss, he would immediately become a public enemy of the government and the opposition.

"However, under the rule of Ning Yuanbo, although mainland businessmen have complained a lot, claiming that the taxes are quite heavy, there are also systems worth learning from."

Wang Chengen handed Chongzhen a cup of hot tea, and a few sips of hot tea went down, which made Chongzhen feel a little warm in the weather in October.

"The slave maid is also a person who has been to Nanzhong, although she is a wanderer, but she has also seen some things. Not to mention anything else, what touched the slaves and maids the most was the several money and grain systems in Nanzhong. When the land is apportioned into the mu, and the officials and gentry pay the grain as an errand, there are no people who do not pay money and grain taxes under the rule of Ning Yuanbo, and do not bear the official servitude. It is Ning Yuanbo's own family, and he also has to pay taxes and silver to the treasury. ”

"The things of the world do not suffer from few, but suffer from unevenness. Since everyone has to pay taxes, then the people's will is indispensable. In addition, there is a unified progressive tax system, if the family land and other items reach a certain amount, the field tax that needs to be paid will increase, so that the major families will have to practice the art of separation. to evade taxes. But I never thought of it. This move is one of Ning Yuanbo's schemes. ”

"Yangmou? Otomo, how do you explain this? ”

"Emperor, there is a saying in officialdom that you must not offend the giant family. It is said that the magistrate must collude with the major famous families when administering, otherwise it will not work in a word. The so-called government decree is difficult to get out of the yamen. However, Ning Yuanbo's implementation of a unified progressive tax system is to throw the road to you. The choice is yours. It is the separation of each church and each room. Or is everyone tied together to pay more taxes? He pays a lot of taxes, and his treasury is full, and if you divide up in order to avoid taxes. That is to fall into another trap of his, and there will be no giant room under the rule of a few years or more than ten years! Therefore, Ning Yuanbo can be as good as an arm under his rule. ”……

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, what I am suffering from now is not Liaodong Jiannu and inland rogues."

Li Shouhan, who came to the edict, thanked Chongzhen for his reward and sat down, and then Langsheng told Emperor Chongzhen his answers.

"Well, with what Aiqing sees, where is the problem?"

Li Shouhan pondered for a moment, and then said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, in fact, the Liaodong rebels and King Li Chuang, the Eight Great Kings, Cao Cao and other generations are not to be afraid. Liaodong is only a land with a radius of hundreds of miles, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and Nurhachi is tyrannical, shaving his hair and easy to wear, and the people of Liaodong are boiling with resentment, and in order to maintain their Eight Banners combat power, they continue to expand outward, conquer Mongolia and Korea, which cost a lot and destroy greatly, and was originally vulnerable. If it weren't for the traitorous ministers who have made mistakes over the years and the treasury is empty, would Huang Taiji be able to fight to this day? ”

Peeking up and looking up at Chongzhen, seeing that Chongzhen could listen attentively, even Wang Chengen, who was waiting on the side, was also preoccupied, and saw Shouhan's gaze drifting over, Wang Chengen responded with encouraging eyes and motioned him to continue.

"Although there are many thieves, they will intimidate and intimidate with hundreds of thousands at every turn, but from the perspective of the ministers, except for a few old thieves who dare to fight, all of them are good people who come to seek survival by coercion, if the court can provide grain and grass for relief, it will collapse without a fight. As for Abatai and other Jiannu, they are even more clowns, if there is a will of His Majesty, Weichen will not send an army, and the enemy can be broken in a few days. ”

"Gather people and make money. Today's important task, whether it is to suppress the rebellion in Liaodong or to pacify the exiles in Guannei, the first thing is money, the second is money, and the third is money. If you have money, you will come from all over the world, and if you have money, you will have strong armor. And the way to make money is nothing more than to open up sources and reduce expenditure. The so-called open source, there are two policies, one is to pay grain and reduce rent, and the other is to open customs. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were a lot of idle fields in the four seas, and the small people mostly cultivated themselves, and there were few wealthy households with fields. Although Taizu promised not to pay for food, the root cause was that the scholars said that there were not enough officials and encouraged them to go up. Today, there are only too many people, not too little, and there is no need to worry about the worries of the past. And in today's situation, there is no idle land, and there are fewer people who pay taxes. The fields that do not pay taxes in various places have occupied most of them. ”

"How can the treasury be sufficient? What's more, the increase in wealthy households, the power of money and grain will be great, a little better to embezzle acres of land, and almost raise troops to rebel, whether it is Nurhachi in Liaodong, or Shuixi Lunan, in the end, it is nothing more than the wealthy households in the frontier. Therefore, the law of the ancestors is to govern the country, and the law of the majesty should also be the rule of the country. The minister's jurisdiction has taken the lead in implementing the integrated payment of grain, which is an example for the world, and His Majesty should implement the minister's measures in the world. The present minister has come to Beijing and has brought a preliminary feasible plan, and the follow-up minister will first release the tax burden of the Hejing minister's jurisdiction to the Beijing division to stop the traitorous ministers. His Majesty can be directly subordinate first, and then Jiangbei, and implemented in turn, if so, then the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty is just around the corner. ”

Then Shouhan introduced the details and significance of these two measures to Chongzhen in detail, the official gentry will pay grain, the treasury will be full, and the rent reduction in the second and fifth years will make the small people happy. The revenue of the customs was mainly used for military expenses and the daily expenses of the palace, that is, as now, the income of the customs went to the inner government and not to the household department.

(This practice is not an invention of pig's feet, there was a Qing generation, until after the Opium War, the customs power was gradually occupied by the British, and the only open port at that time, Guangdong Customs, was under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.) The so-called Guangdong Customs Supervision. It is one of the famous fat shortages in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The customs duties collected are used for various expenses in the palace, such as repairing gardens. Well, by the way, a little digression, Ming Wuzong, who was scolded by the literati of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years, just built a leopard room and spent his own money. I don't want to be like the old man, and use customs tariffs to build gardens. Moreover, the old man repaired the garden, and this group of literati praised it as the atmosphere of the prosperous age. It was also the emperor's house that was built for his own use. How can the reactions of the literati be so different? Where is your flaunted integrity? ）

"陛xià. If these three things can be done, the minister dares to assert that not only can the east slave be leveled, but the thief can be determined. It is the move of Zhongxing Daming that His Majesty has always wanted to do. It is also visible overnight. The minister did not dare to say that he was chasing the rule of Renxuan. But back to the time of the reign of the Divine Sect, there are still seventy or eighty percent! The Ming Dynasty can have at least twenty years of prosperity in the hands of His Majesty! ”

"Emperor, the slave also thinks that what Uncle Ning Yuan said is extremely true. The so-called financial management is nothing more than four words: open source and reduce expenditure. Seeing that Chongzhen was moved by the bright prospects outlined by Li Shouhan, Wang Chengen also struck while the iron was hot and said a few words.

"The so-called open source is, as Uncle Ning Yuan said, to open customs and collect customs duties. This time, Ning Yuanbo entered Beijing, and the taxes collected by the customs in Shanghai and other places on behalf of the emperor have been released and deposited into the treasury, amounting to nearly one million yuan. The servants and maids listened to the servants below that if they opened customs along the river, the profits from opening customs in Tianjin, Denglai and other places should be multiples! ”

"The so-called throttling, with all due respect, is the biggest throttling for the people. Why don't the small people mess up, just drum up their bellies and sing. However, it is extremely difficult to satisfy the land rent nowadays. The few are five or six, and the many are seven or eight, plus the money is exploited, and there are those who work for a year to borrow grain and live. The minister once saw a people in Guangdong, said that he rented five acres of land from the patriarch, and then borrowed 200 catties of grain, and after the autumn, he settled the accounts, deducted the rations, and owed the patriarch 150 catties. (Kouhu, this is not someone else's business, it is my grandfather's personal experience...... ）

Shouhan put down the teacup in his hand, nodded slightly to Wang Chengen's help, expressed his gratitude, and continued to explain to the emperor.

"In those years, the two great chaos, the local guests hated each other, and clans, villages and towns attacked and killed each other, and most of the reasons arose because of this."

"The so-called rich is only three generations, although there are descendants who are not good, but there is also a risk that the population will increase and the acres of land will not increase. It is calculated that a couple has 30 acres of good fertile land, two sons, and the two sons each marry and give birth to two sons, and after three generations, the family is more than 10 people, but the acres of land are still only 30 acres. If you talk about ideal things, the best thing is, of course, a cow per person 30 acres, but today has today's reality, and it cannot be forced. The minister's policy, rent reduction and interest reduction. Regardless of the form of tenancy, at least 20 5 percent will be deducted, and after the rent reduction, the thin land shall not exceed 30 percent, and the fertile land shall not exceed 4 percent and 5 percent. If you add the national tax, it's only half. If we can promote the practice of cultivating fields in Nanzhong, interplanting rice and wheat, interplanting wheat and rapeseed, or planting potatoes, sweet potatoes and other things to increase yield, there will be no problem in the country. In this way, which lard will be blinded by the heart to do the desperate act of licking the blood with a knife, and the thief will be even! ”

Seeing that Chongzhen was silent, but did not seem to object, Li Shouhan continued: "There is also a minister who has already built a customs. The customs controversy is larger, some people say that this is to compete with the people for profit, but in fact, the customs is the policy of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, which can be said to be heavy on agriculture and suppress business. ”

"The world is based on agriculture and mulberry, and Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty once said that gold and silver are hungry and cannot be eaten, and cold cannot be clothed, which are not as good as grain and mulberry hemp. Then the small people of all generations were more happy to do business than to plow, because farming was not only hard work, but also less profitable than business. Merchants go back and forth between the north and the south for a year, they can buy 100 acres of fertile land, and the farmers can cultivate for a year, and it is difficult to have food and clothing. Therefore, the construction of the customs is a sage's move to emphasize agriculture and suppress business, and the customs is generous, which can make up for the lack of national use, why not? ”

The matter is big, and Chongzhen also knows that this is undoubtedly a move to turn the whole court upside down, inside and outside the court, and naturally it cannot be implemented by Li Shouhan just by saying a few words.

However, there is a minutiae among the many Jianyi of the Han Dynasty that Chongzhen and Wang Chengen appreciate, and when it is a matter of drafting, it is ready to be carried out.

"Your Majesty, now in the provincial treasury, the so-called official silver is of different quality, different shapes, often between this province and another province to convert and cash, businessmen and people use extremely inconvenient. In the humble opinion of the ministers, if it is better to unify the currency system of various places, it is better to relieve the people in poverty. It is the Tongbao that should be recast with the Tongbao cast when His Majesty first ascended the throne. ”

"If His Majesty agrees with this move, the minister is willing to follow the example of dogs and horses. As long as His Majesty tells him how many coins to mint, the minister will organize people to mint them for His Majesty. As for all the expenses during the period, why should the ministers and His Majesty divide them so clearly? ”

This was said so that Chongzhen was very comfortable to listen to!

Since the Shouhan Dynasty entered Beijing, or since the main force of Hong Chengchou's department was surrounded in the Guangning area, his mood has not been so comfortable as now!

Listen up! What does it mean to be loyal to the country? For the sake of my country, Ning Yuanbo would rather pay out of his own pocket to mint coins for me!

However, Chongzhen didn't know that this move was tantamount to handing over the currency of the Ming court to Li Shouhan. Shouhan now holds the copper mines in the Bodhisattva region and the copper mines on Luzon Island, and he does not need to use copper to cast artillery, except for the copper skin to wrap the bottom of the ship, there is no special use, so what is the use of so much copper?

It's not so much that it's piled up there and patina, it's better to mint it into money!

However, Chongzhen also thought of one thing, if Li Shouhan said these words in the court, the court would inevitably explode......

"Ning Yuanbo's move is tantamount to being an enemy of all the courtiers, nobles, and clans, even the rich businessmen and scholars everywhere will also regard him as an enemy, so that people will lose their hopes, even if they have more soldiers, horses, money and food, they can only be used by me!" (To be continued......)