Just when Yang Lian was in Suzhou asking the Bank of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to hand over the central bank's reserves, Niu Jinxing also came to Hangzhou, his fleet had arrived in Songjiang Mansion, more than 100 merchant ships were carrying grain, and he himself was wandering around Suzhou City with a few retinues.

Compared with the prosperous market in the past, the current Suzhou city is a bit depressed, because of the tightening of the bank, many silk villages, grocery stores, rice shops are sparsely populated, their money is used by the money boss to hoard food, the supply is insufficient, naturally it reduces a lot of customers, but because of the high price of food, many citizens still have a lot of money in their pockets, where have they gone?

Niu Jinxing walked and looked, the shop of the Daming Royal Trading Company was still lined up as before to buy rations of citizens, although the price of rice and noodles was sold at cost price, but the Daming Royal Trading Company did not lose much, the reason is that it started the earliest, has long hoarded enough low-cost grain, and the current sales price is nothing more than no money, and the grain smuggled back from overseas has also made a lot of money.

Niu Jinxing turned to the most prosperous street in Suzhou City, stopped in front of a luxurious restaurant, and saw three gilt characters "Spring Breeze Pavilion" written on the door of the restaurant. In the Ming Dynasty, there were countless Jinshi in the south of the Yangtze River, and Suzhou Mansion was the leader, so the business of this restaurant was very good.

Niu Jinxing took two entourages into this restaurant, which is usually a gathering place for literati and elegant guests, but today it looks very noisy. In the middle of the hall there was a huge dining table, which had not yet been served, only filled with tea sets, and a group of people were talking loudly around the dining table.

Niu Jinxing glanced at it, and saw a young man less than thirty years old sitting on the main seat, who seemed particularly excited in his group of talkers, and when he stood up to speak, the others sat down quietly, and listened to him speak quietly.

I only heard the young man say: "Our Suzhou and Wuxi were originally the richest places in the Ming Dynasty, but now there is a depression in the market, do you know what the reason is?" That is caused by the drought in the north, is caused by the national policy of the current Long Live Lord, in the Ming Dynasty, our taxes were the heaviest, and we provided the most wealth to the households of the Ming Dynasty, but now we are still subject to unfair policies. Since Wan Li Ye levied the mining tax, we have been seriously unfair, fortunately Tai Chang Ye has restored the original national policy, but unfortunately before we have recovered, now Wan Sui Ye has begun to levy mining tax under the instigation of eunuchs and traitorous officials, competing with the people for money, causing a depression in the market. ”

"You can see that a few months ago, business was booming and business was booming, but suddenly the central bank of Daming asked us to hand over five percent more reserves than before, why should we pay more, do we all feel a little tight money, because our money was innocently taken away, and we all went to the north."

"Besides, now that Yang Lian, was originally a good official, but since he became the president of the central bank of the Ming Dynasty, he has been constantly making trouble for everyone, these two days I have personally come to Suzhou Mansion to check the accounts, what kind of accounts, the account book is the top secret of our businessmen, only the proprietor of the commercial bank has the right to check the accounts, he is something, he must be a traitor who came to rob us of money, we resolutely want to oppose it, drive Yang Lian away!"

When Niu Jinxing arrived here, he asked the shopkeeper next to him, "Who is this person?" How could he say so arrogant? ”

Dian Xiaoer said: "It seems that the old man is a foreigner, this is the most famous scholar here who speaks for everyone, called Zhang Fu, the word Tianru, is the most famous talent in Suzhou and Wuxi, known for his uprightness, he has been smart since he was a child, and he also organized the resumption of the society to discuss political affairs, criticize the unfair current affairs, and now he is very popular with the literati. ”

Oh, this person is Zhang Fu Zhang Tianru, the hero of the famous "Seven Records and Seven Burnings" story, no wonder the atmosphere here is particularly lively today, it turns out that these people are gathering here, discussing Yang Lian's visit to the headquarters of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Bank to check the accounts, it seems that Yang Lian is going to run into trouble, maybe he will be fooled by this guy, and the already turbulent emotions will be intensified, it is really possible to drive Yang Lian away, especially a literati like Yang Lian who pays attention to face, if he encounters a literate hooligan, he will definitely fail.

In fact, Niu Jinxing is also right, this year in history, this Zhang Fu is really famous because of an article, this article is called "The Tombstone of Five People", and even on the high school textbook of the Celestial Empire, the text commemorates the five people who were executed for violent tax resistance, and even the lesson plan says this: "This article describes and praises the heroic deeds of Suzhou citizens who are not afraid of *, are not afraid of sacrifice, and dare to fight against evil forces, and enthusiastically praises the heroic behavior of the five martyrs who fought against violence and unyielding to death, and they "died in anger." He spoke highly of the spirit of the struggle, affirmed the great significance and immortal merits of the struggle, and further expounded the truth that "the importance of the husband is more important than the society." It praised the heroic spirit of five of them who "were passionate about righteousness and disregarded death", and revealed the theme idea of "the greatness of life and death, and the importance of the husband is more important than the society". ”。 In fact, this is completely a big fool, think about it, if there is a violent tax resistance, or even kill the officials who collect taxes, it must be a capital crime, everyone does not pay taxes, how to maintain the state power, how to get the people safe?

It should be said that these five people are innocent of their deaths, and they can't talk about any "passionate righteousness and disregard for death", they should just be scapegoats pushed out for the benefit of a small group of businessmen. And Zhang Fu's article played the worst role, it can be said that it was open and the state power called for it, but it is a pity that history is written by literati, and the right to speak is in the hands of the Donglin Party at that time, especially Emperor Chongzhen was purging eunuchs at that time, and he was still an angry young man.

Niu Jinxing is also a lifter, naturally belongs to the literate intellectuals and hooligans, especially after Zhu Youxiao's ideological edification over the years, seeing that Zhu Youxiao let him run the Ming Imperial Trading Firm has been operating in accordance with the law and paying taxes on time, the emperor does this, what reason do you have for not paying taxes?

An Nai couldn't help his mood, Niu Jinxing walked straight to the table, and asked Zhang Fu as soon as he opened his mouth: "This gentleman, listening to your passionate speech, I am excited, do you have parents?" Is it filial to your parents at home? Is it a sister-in-law or a concubine in the family? ”

Zhang Fu was in an emotional speech, Leng Buding was asked by Niu Jinxing, and he couldn't react for a while, so he replied: "People's lives come from their parents, why did Mr. come here to ask, filial piety to parents is a natural thing, why not be filial to your parents, how about the concubine, what do you think?" ”

Niu Jinxing sneered: "Hmph, "The Book of Poetry Xiaoya" cloud: Under the Pu sky, it is not the king's land; On the shore of the land, it is not the king's minister. I wonder if Mr. has read it? Du Gongbu's "Song of the Thatched House Broken by the Autumn Wind" said, "There are tens of thousands of mansions, and the poor people in the world are happy, and it is enough for me to break alone"? Have you seen Fan Wenzhenggong's "The Story of Yueyang Tower"? 'The worries of the world first, and the joy of the world after the world' understand? ”

In the face of Niu Jinxing's continuous questions, Zhang Fu is really confused now, if Zhang Fu said that he had not read these books, he would definitely be scolded for not reading the sage books, if he had read these books, and he didn't know what kind of trap Niu Jinxing had set up, Zhang Fu was a little stammering for a while, "You, you, what do you mean?" Isn't it insulting to me to ask this? Looking down on our Donglin Academy, we are the children of Song scholars, don't we know all this? Who are you? What a mess. ”

Niu Jinxing sneered: "You call yourself a scholar, a saint's child, and you don't understand the simplest truth. Everyone is the people of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor is our parents today. In layman's terms, paying taxes is to honor one's parents and do one's filial duty as a child, but you don't even understand this truth, what is a person? Can't 'worry about the world first, and enjoy the joy of the world after the world', what kind of gentleman and scholar are called. What kind of behavior is stealing beams and changing pillars, clever words, and demagogic people to resist the national policy of the imperial court? ”