Private collection of business taxes, if this crime is really deducted from Wang Zezhi's head, then he will face the officials and businessmen of the entire Ming Dynasty.

The first to oppose him were Shanxi merchants, after all, it was also Shanxi merchants who went out of the customs to do business the most.

Then, there are the various officials who are inextricably linked with Shanxi merchants.

In the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, because Shanxi and other border areas were in urgent need of military rations, the government recruited merchants to transport grain in exchange for salt, and led the salt to be sold in the designated area, which was called Kaizhong.

Four years later, the rules of China Salt were formulated. Considering the distance of the road, the amount of grain transported, and other factors such as whether the Chinese and Namibi merchants can make a profit, so as to determine the amount of grain import and exchange.

Later, according to the needs of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty successively implemented the method of paying money in salt, Nama in salt, Na iron in salt, nano in tea, and Yi Ma in tea.

In the Chongzhen period, the royal family, eunuchs, nobles, and bureaucrats saw that it was profitable to hold salt, so they begged for salt and sold it to salt merchants to make a profit.

This phenomenon is known as "occupying the nest", and this phenomenon has intensified, undermining the system of opening up the central government and turning it into a tool for officials and businessmen to collude for personal gain.

Wang Zezhi's collection of protection money naturally moved the interests of these people.

However, Wang Zezhi sent troops and horses to suppress bandits and ensure the safety of the trade road, and these merchants would not say anything.

If you deduct a private business tax hat from him, it will be completely different.

Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru and Chongzhen discussed for a long time, and finally left with a red face.

The same was true when Chongzhen left, and he hummed two little tunes happily.

......

In the second year of Chongzhen, May 20.

Xuanfu Town.

Xuanfu Town, is one of the nine border towns established in the early Ming Dynasty, named after the general army of the town stationed in Xuanhua Mansion, and there are also referred to as "Xuanzhen".

The border wall under its jurisdiction starts from the east of Yongguan and Sihaizhi, and reaches the Xiyang River in Yanggao County, the northeast corner of Shanxi Province in the west, which is 1,000 and 23 miles long.

Xuanhua Mansion is located in Xuanhua District, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province.

Xuanfu Town is a military important place, and during the Chongzhen period, the imperial court still attached great importance to the construction of the Great Wall of Xuanfu Town.

At this moment, in Xuanfu Town, where the city is high and deep, in a luxurious courtyard, dozens of wealthy merchants gathered.

These businessmen are personally dressed in brocade robes, with fat heads and big ears.

They laughed and talked slowly, and when they talked about their respective businesses, they flicked their sleeves and negotiated a transaction of tens of thousands of taels of silver with a few gestures in their long sleeved robes.

Most of these businessmen became rich by opening China and France, and most of them operated profitable businesses such as tea, salt, and iron.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the phenomenon of opening the law and occupying the nest fed a large number of merchants and gentry, and the richest of these people were the Jin merchants and Beijing merchants.

Because of the huge profits they receive, even if there are many people who lack clothes and clothing, they are very rich.

This courtyard is quite large, not only with pavilions, rockery fish ponds, but also with a beautiful stage.

On the stage, the actors of Xuanfu skillfully sang the melodious North Road Bangzi to cheer up the masters.

The old men sat on the tables and chairs in the pavilion and shook their heads, listening attentively.

"Yo, Old Man Fan is here."

"Yo, the son of the Fan family is also here."

When the merchants in the luxurious courtyard saw the two coming, they all stood up to pay their respects.

Old man Fan is talking about Fan Ming, he is Fan Yongdou's father, and what the son of the Fan family is talking about is Fan Yongdou.

Who is Fan Yongdou?

Fan Yongdou, ancestral home in Jiexiu, Shanxi.

Zhangjiakou, who lived in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, was a representative of the Jin merchants in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

The Eight Great Merchants of the Jin Dynasty (later the Eight Imperial Merchants) represented by him smuggled grain, grass and iron tools and sold and looted property on behalf of the Jurchens, which made the blockade policy of the Ming court fail and became the traitors of the Jin merchants in the late Ming Dynasty.

Fan Yongdou became such a person mostly because of his father, it can be said that he picked up his father's business and "carried it forward".

Fan Yongdou's father, Fan Ming, died when his mother was ten years old, and after his father continued to play the strings, he became increasingly cold to Fan Ming.

Once, he picked a few unripe green dates to eat, was beaten and scolded by his father, ran away from home in a fit of anger, and went to Dushikou (now north of Chicheng County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei) to do business with the Jurchen Mongols.

Pham Minh made many friends in the local area, and made many Jurchen Beyler Fujin, and the grain and iron tools he sold were military supplies that the Jurchens were very eager for, and silk and other novelty were liked by the prince's family, so the trade became bigger and bigger.

In Fan Yongdou's generation, the Fan family was basically tied to the interests of the Jurchens.

As the ambitions of the post-Jin regime swelled, they needed more and more things, such as iron, gunpowder, muskets, and military intelligence.

The Later Jin regime also relied more and more on Jin merchants like the Fan family, who had been doing business with them for a long time.

The gunpowder, eighty percent of the grain, and more than sixty percent of the metals needed for the Later Jin were all provided by the Jin merchants.

Even Gyeonggi intelligence, down to the names of the guards at each pass, the number of soldiers, and the list of equipment, were provided by the Jin merchants.

When Zhangjiabao opened in the Apocalypse, Fan Ming was doing business from Zhangjiabao in Xuanfu.

Later, as he became bigger and bigger, he built this courtyard in Xuanfu, and the merchants gathered now were also invited by him.

Of course, these businessmen followed him and made a lot of money, which is why Fan Minh was able to invite these people.

Some of the businessmen present may be foreign strong dragons, but strong dragons do not suppress the head snake, and the Fan family is the head snake entrenched in Xuanfu Town.

If you want to go out of the Xuanfu to do business, no one can do business without Fan Ming's nod.

Fan Ming has been entrenched in Xuanfu for many years, Xuanfu, Beizhili, Shanxi, and he has been involved in all the businesses that can make money through customs.

Tea, salt, iron, rice, satin, etc., there is nothing that he does not operate.

The most important thing is that he has the support of not only the ministers of the DPRK and China behind him, but also the support of the Later Jin Emperor Taiji.

All the merchants who worked with him would inexplicably disappear or die.

This is also the reason why the merchants respected him.

During the Chongzhen period, Fan Ming was getting old, and most of the business in the clan was run by Fan Yongdou, which was why he would take Fan Yongdou with him.

Fan Ming politely bowed to everyone, and asked everyone who stood up to give a salute to sit down.

After they all sat down, they sat down with Fan Yongdou's support.

"Today's business is not good, the new governor of Xuanfu is upright, and he is reluctant to open Zhangjiabao for trade, and the general army of Shanxi has opened Xinpingbao, but he collects protection money.

The current world is not good, and it is understandable to collect some protection money, but he dared to detain the iron ingots, firearms, gunpowder, and food that we went out of the customs to earn money.

Let's just bring tea, salt, and briquettes to do business with the Jinren.

You must know that the most profitable thing in our hands is iron and firearms, hum, now it's okay, this financial road is broken, cough... "Fan Ming sat down in his chair, patted the armrest and coughed.

Wang Zezhi opened a mutual market in Xinpingbao, next to Xuanfu Town, but he was very strict with the merchants' goods.

As long as iron, firearms, gunpowder, rice and grain were found, they were detained on charges of financing the enemy.

Those who were unwilling to hand over the goods were killed on the spot on the charge of treason against the enemy, which also caused the business of these merchants to be greatly discounted, and it was impossible to say that they did not hate Wang Zezhi.

"Cutting off people's wealth is like killing their parents, this son is too deceitful, and we should ask the ministers of the court to impeach him."

"That's right, let him know how good we are."

"Hmph, if you don't give him a little bit of power, he still thinks we are soft persimmons."

"Ahem..."Fan Mingxu raised his hand, and the merchants quieted down.

"The impeachment has passed, it's useless, he is the emperor's person, and the people in our court also released a news, this king Zezhi is testing us in the name of collecting protection money, and he wants to collect business taxes privately."

As soon as Fan Ming finished saying this, the businessmen exploded directly, and Fan Ming's words released two messages.

The first is that there are people in the court who support them, otherwise they would not have received this information.

The second is that the emperor supports Wang Zezhi, and they can't use ruthless means.

Otherwise, they won't be able to eat and walk around.

The merchants in the courtyard roared angrily, but their eyes shone with a sly light.

Who can sit here is still not a treacherous businessman.