More than a month later, the imperial court suddenly issued a decree and began to implement a graded tax. According to the income of each business, the country implements a tax system ranging from 10 to 40 taxes.

In order to implement this system, Cao Ziwen has done enough work. He knew very well that in order to successfully implement such a system, the most fundamental and crucial thing was to have a clear picture of the actual income of those merchants. For this reason, he deliberately separated the department in charge of taxation from the household department, and replaced all of them with people he trusted, and the black-faced Yushi Yuzheng personally took charge, sharpening his knife and aiming at all the merchants in Youzhou City.

In order to suppress the major families, as soon as Qin Wang's 30,000 sets of weapons and equipment arrived, he immediately equipped them to the four towns of Youzhou in addition to the Zhenbei Army, and also asked Qin Wang's 30,000 sets of cavalry equipment. It is worth mentioning that when he first saw Akagi's improved horizontal sword, spear and armor, Cao Ziwen was surprised. He has seen a lot of swords and armor, and he has never seen a standard weapon do this. Because of these weapons and equipment, he rewarded Qin Forget a lot of things.

In order to build momentum, almost all the eastern, western, and southern towns were dispatched, and double the manpower was stationed in the key places in the inner and outer cities of Youzhou. In addition, there were 5,000 Imperial Forest Army and 5,000 Zhennan Army stationed not far from the Zhenbei Army, forming a flanking attack on Li Cunzhi's Zhenbei Army.

This hand came too suddenly, and as soon as the sky was still dawning, countless tax collectors under Yu Zheng's hand, accompanied by the Imperial Forest Army, raided Li Chengan's grain store and Wen Man's cloth store, turning all the shops upside down, and all the accounts were sealed for inspection.

"Old man, Your Majesty's knife is so ruthless, it cuts at our lifeline." Still in that old tavern, Li Chengan looked at Wen Man, and said with a wry smile, "It's all that Qin Wang, it's all his bad idea, I knew that I would get rid of this kid no matter what, but unfortunately, there is no chance now." ”

"Hmph, even if there is no Qin Forget now, Your Majesty will come here." Wen Man snorted, "Lao Li, it's been so many times, and you haven't dealt with Qin Wang, you are really old." ”

"You're embarrassed to say, if it weren't for your old slippery head who has been sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, let's join forces, Qin Forget can have today?" Li Chengan complained dissatisfiedly.

Hearing Li Cheng'an's words, Wen Man was not angry, and sighed in a low voice, "It's still Benxiang who underestimates him, Benxiang thinks that as long as you Li Xiang makes a move, taking down that kid is to explore the bag and take things, I really didn't expect that Qin Forget also has some ability." ”

"Okay, it's too late to say this at this time, how are you going to solve today's situation?"

"Ten taxes and one, we must not agree to such a tax. Let's raise the price first, how much the emperor makes from us, we will earn it back from the people, and when the time comes, it will be full of complaints, and see how Your Majesty ends. Wen Man gave a plan to deal with it without thinking about it.

"In fact, what I care about most is not this little business, but the people under this little thing can do it. Wen Xiang doesn't think this is a signal released by the emperor? He's going to do it to all of us, today commercially, tomorrow militarily. Wen Xiang, this Xiang has a hunch, the head-on conflict between His Majesty and us is not far away, how does Wen Xiang plan to face it? Li Cheng'an sees further, to be honest, a head-on conflict with the royal family is not what they want to see, An An is stable and muffled to make a fortune, and it is what they want to do to be in charge of a country's politics.

"What does Lee Xiang mean?"

"Together, from today onwards, both commercially and militarily, all-encompassing and thorough. Old fellow, we have been fighting all our lives, if this time it is still like before, let's wait to be broken by His Majesty one by one. Li Chengan said solemnly.

"Don't worry, you know what you are." Wen Man nodded, "I have already united several great families under my command, and I must set an offensive and defensive alliance, and it is only right to advance and retreat together." ”

"In addition, our next focus should be shifted to the army." Li Chengan added, "Last time

The parade is still fresh in my memory, and it has only been a long time for the 100,000 troops under His Majesty to be completely reborn. There are also the sophisticated weapons provided by Qin Wang, if we don't cheer up, relying on our hundreds of thousands of local town troops, they are not Your Majesty's opponents. ”

"Yes, I've seen those weapons in their own right, and they're really the best. I really don't know where Qin Wang's kid got such a great ability to create such an artifact. Wen Man sighed, "I've tried it, and the long knife used by our army was cut in two by others, how can this battle be fought." ”

"So, weapons are also our focus. Benxiang has already sent someone to Akagi to investigate, hoping to get the Akagi Army's steelmaking method and the production process of those weapons, hoping to gain something. ”

"Li Xiang does things, plans and then acts, and admires this appearance!"

The tax system issued by the emperor soon spread to the ordinary people of Youzhou. People suddenly found that the price of grain, cloth, and oil suddenly increased by 30 percent. For example, grain used to cost 300 wen for a stone of wheat, but now it costs 400 wen. The sharp increase has made the people miserable.

Li Fu Ji is the largest grain store of the Li family. Early in the morning, countless ordinary people stood at the door waiting to buy food. But as soon as the grain store opened, the price sign hung out by the guy surprised these ordinary people.

"I said man, how did it go up so much overnight? One bucket has risen by ten wen, this is too dark, right? Looking at the counter clearly, an aunt shouted.

"It's like, why did it go up so much? Still don't let people live? ”

Other ordinary people also clamoured.

"What's the noise, what's the noise?" The guy saw the people clamoring and shouted arrogantly, "Is the price increase what we Li Fuji are willing to do?" The court has raised taxes, but this money must not fall on you? Love to buy or not to buy, don't buy and get out. ”

Hearing what the guy said, these ordinary people whispered to the court, blaming the court for not raising taxes. This is ordinary people, they don't care about any national plans, they only care about their own oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea.

"Who made you raise the price!" At this moment, several tax collectors strode over, followed by a few royal forest soldiers, "Your Majesty strictly ordered that no price increases are allowed, you are trying to know that the law is broken." One of the young tax collectors shouted at the fellow.

"Ouch sir, let's open the door to do business, how to set the price is determined by cost and market, you are too unreasonable, right?" Li Fuji's shopkeeper walked out and said with a fearless face. Behind him is the Li family, and he is naturally not afraid of this little tax collector.

"Who are you? His Majesty has an order, and whoever dares to raise the price will be closed. This time it's just a warning, if you don't lower the price of food, you will close the door to this official! The tax collector wouldn't budge an inch.

"Whew! Close the door, close the door, who is afraid of whom! The shopkeeper sneered, "Little guys, if you don't do business today, let's close our doors!" With that, he glanced defiantly at the tax collector, turned and walked into the grain store.

"The general really guessed right, the Li family will come to this hand." Not counting, Qin Forget and Luo Zhong saw all these in their eyes, and Luo Zhong said in a low voice.

"Ten taxes and one, Your Majesty is a little too ruthless. The reaction of the Li family is also expected, and if I guess that it is good, the grain stores and cloth stores in the entire Youzhou City will be closed on a large scale. ”

"The general guessed well, according to the report from the brothers who are watching other Li family shops, the other shops have been closed one after another, it seems that they are going to fight to the end this time." Luo Zhong nodded and said admiringly.

"To the end?" Qin Forget smiled coldly, "It's good to fight in the end, and we will have a chance to fight in the end." Have all the supplies from the Chamber of Commerce arrived? ”

"The general can rest assured that 100,000 stones of grain, 30,000 horses of cloth, and other oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are enough, enough to have a good time with these families

One play. In addition, 300,000 stone of various materials have been prepared and are being shipped one after another. And according to the general's orders, the merchants of the Chamber of Commerce are also ready in various big cities, just waiting for the general's order to squeeze the business of the major families at any time. ”

"That's good, the tea and horse market is about to open, and the merchants in the Chamber of Commerce have no resistance."

"Don't worry, General." Luo Zhong laughed, "There are still three or four months left in the tea and horse market, and they can't wait to have a big business to do." Knowing that the general took them to do this big ticket, they were all excited to death. Who does not know that the grain and oil cloth is the most profitable, and more than one hundred and fifty merchants are crazy and are frantically accumulating these goods. ”

"Well, the people in the Chamber of Commerce are good and obedient. Tell them not to make money that shouldn't be earned, and Dayan still wants a stable environment. ”

For three or four or five days in a row, all the shops in Youzhou were closed, without exception, which can also be seen from the huge influence of the Wen and Li families in Dayan. There is no way for the imperial court to deal with such a situation, and if you look through any of Dayan's laws, you can't find that it is a sin not to open the door to do business.

This has made hundreds of thousands of people in Youzhou suffer, and it is better to say that there is nothing else to say, food is out for four or five days, but it can kill people. None of these small citizens are wealthy, and they buy and eat food on the spot, and they have never had the habit of storing food. Suddenly, they couldn't buy food for four or five days, and although they didn't starve to death, the people really panicked. At the door of every grain store, hundreds of ordinary people clamored to open a store to sell grain, and they could accept the price of 400 wen and one stone. But Li Chengan sincerely made the matter bigger, that is, he did not open a warehouse to release grain. There were many places where there were conflicts, and Yin Tenghao, the Youzhou Mansion, made preparations in advance, so that there was no big mess.

It is not only these ordinary people who make a fuss, but also those so-called Qingliu literati. At the behest of Li Cheng'an and Wen Man, almost all the literati in Youzhou joined forces to petition, asking Emperor Cao Ziwen to show compassion for the people, but also to benefit the people, and abolish the newly implemented hierarchical tax system. The court also made Cao Ziwen one head and two big, and Youzhou in the past few days, from the court to the people, is simply a mess.

"Qin Wang, your food is already in place, hurry up early tomorrow morning." Cao Ziwen, who had been forced into the palace by the Manchu Dynasty for a day, rubbed his aching head and said to Qin Wang, who had secretly entered the palace.

"Your Majesty, the fire hasn't arrived yet." Qin Forget shook his head, "The Li family has controlled the grain business in Youzhou and even the world for so many years, and the common people have become accustomed to their high prices, and it has only been four or five days, and their resentment against the Li family has not yet reached its peak, and they are even more afraid of Li Xiang's obscenity." If we invest our grain now, once the two sides start a price war, the common people will still be pulled away by them. What's more, Li Xiang is not in chaos now, and he can't catch his handle for the time being. If you want to hit him hard, you can only wait for him to make a faint move. ”

"Wait for him to make a stunge?" Cao Ziwen raised his eyebrows, "He is old and fine, and waiting for him to make a faint move is tantamount to waiting for the sun to come out of the west." ”

"The Admiral doesn't think so." Qin Forget smiled slightly, "As the saying goes, if you care, you will be chaotic, Li Chengan's weight is the nearly 100,000 stone grain stored in the grain store, if he feels that the grain may not be able to be saved, it will definitely be in chaos, and then the opportunity will come." ”

"What do you mean......" Cao Ziwen is not stupid, Qin forgot to say this, how could he not know, his face was full of excitement.

"Squeezing the Li family's business to death can only hurt his fur, and if he wants to seriously injure his muscles and bones, he will also fall on the military power,"

"I understand all of this." Cao Ziwen smiled bitterly, "But Qin Forget, you don't know how much pressure I have been under these days, not to mention the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, even the Queen Mother has told me about this matter many times, so that I can calm down this matter as soon as possible to prevent chaos." ”

"That's it, Your Majesty, two days, Your Majesty will give the last general two more days, and after two days, the last general will immediately put the grain in his hand into the market!" Qin Forget knew that Cao Ziwen was not having a good time, so he thought about it a little and said out loud.