"Master, the Lianghuai Salt Farm suddenly stopped sending salt, according to a small inquiry, someone in the palace was ordered to transport all the salt in Lianghuai!"

Li Shu was surprised when he heard his subordinate's reply: "How can this be! How did the imperial court move so fast! ”

"Master, Qin Jin, the governor of Huguang, sent troops to block the waterway and prohibit Huguang's private grain from leaving the country!"

Jingshan Hou Cui Yuan also got a bad news at this time, and couldn't help but be furious: "Qin Jin, what is this for, don't even give Ben Hou face?" ”

Cui Yuan's servant hurriedly replied: "I heard that it was an order from above, only Xu, Ma, Jiao and other imperial merchants are allowed to leave the country!" ”

Cui Yuan also understood when he heard this, and sat on the chair in a daze

……

In any case, the strike set off by the powerful officials and gentry in Jiangnan was a complete failure.

And at this time.

Mochou Lake.

It's the Mid-Autumn Festival again.

The whole lake has been full of lights, the pavilions and pavilions are all fire trees and silver flowers, the Ming Emperor has been in a good mood recently, he decided to hold a banquet in Mochou Lake, and the banquet invited celebrities from all walks of life in Nanjing.

The powerful gentry of Jiangnan, the Hui merchants, and the Jin merchants lost their wives and soldiers because of the failure of the strike, resulting in the entire Jiangnan not only being politically controlled by the central court, but also the economic lifeline being controlled by the central court.

This naturally made Zhu Houzhao feel extremely comfortable, watching the economic life of the people in Jiangnan gradually return to normal, and the prosperous Jiangnan seemed to be back again, which made him also have the mood to be happy with the people, set up a banquet, and look at the smiles of the powerful officials and gentry in Nanjing, which are more ugly than crying, sometimes more refreshing than watching the beauties laugh.

Li Shu, the counselor of the General Administration Department, was originally in a very bad mood, and Ji Xuan, who encouraged him to boycott the market, disappeared without a trace, and he also lost hundreds of thousands of silver dollars because of the boycott, and even offended the above, so Li Shu is now very irritable, so irritable that he scolded his subordinates and his family angrily.

But what Li Shu didn't expect was that when he was depressed, His Majesty the Emperor suddenly wanted to hold a banquet, and all officials above the fifth grade in Nanjing had to have a banquet.

It would have been nice to be able to meet the emperor, but Li Shu is really not in the mood to meet the emperor now.

"Senator Li, it's also a feast in front of the emperor, it can be described as the emperor's grace, why are you sad, show more smiles, be happy!"

Xiong Hu walked over and saw that Li Shu was depressed, so he persuaded him.

Li Shu could only force out some smiles.

Like Li Shu, many of the officials and gentry who came to the banquet were not in a good mood, but they all had to force a smile.

Zhu Hou looked at the appearance of these officials and gentry, and his mood was even better, and he even said some auspicious words himself: "Ladies and gentlemen, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, don't be too restrained, and between the monarch and the minister, you should also have a happy relationship." ”

Wang Shouren also took over: "Exactly, after the implementation of the new tax policy, although there are merchants who do not understand the painstaking efforts of the imperial court and disregard the people's feelings, but in the end, there is no danger, as of last month, the new tax silver of the Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau has reached more than 74 million silver dollars, and the two provinces of Nanzhili and Zhejiang can not only save the imperial court more than 9 million yuan a year in subsidies, but also have a surplus of tens of millions of silver dollars, which is enough to fill the treasury of the imperial court and the government of the two provinces. ”

Wu Wending also said brightly: "According to the tax sharing ratio, the Nanzhili local can get more than 10 million silver dollars in taxes, and the minister can also have sufficient funds to benefit the people of Nanzhili, and the sea pond in the Qingpu area of Songjiang can also be built in advance now, and the minister decided to set aside 5 million silver dollars every year to reduce the tuition fees of social studies and junior school students for six years in order to realize the tax for the benefit of the people!" ”

Zhu Houzhao was very happy after hearing this: "This is very good, it seems that the new tax policy is still very beneficial, but it can extend the prosperity of my Ming Dynasty, do you Aiqing say yes or no?" ”

"Your Majesty is wise!"

The officials could only hurriedly say yes, and they all had mixed tastes in their hearts, but in any case, they still had to say with a smile: "Your Majesty is wise!" ”

"This matter is not me Yingming, Cong Aiqing, Xiong Aiqing, Zhang Aiqing of the Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau, and Wang Ge Lao are all great contributors, and you business representatives who are willing to stand on the side of the court and the people of the world have also made a lot of efforts, and the secretaries say yes or no?"

Zhu Houzhao said and looked at the powerful officials and gentry in Jiangnan who were present at the banquet.

Li Shu and other powerful officials and gentry in Jiangnan hated these people so much at this time, how could they be in the mood to admit that they were great, but now that the emperor is praising them, they have to pinch their noses and admit it.

Wu Wending even gave a salute first: "The dynasty has both Ming monarchs and virtuous ministers, so that it can have today's prosperity!" ”

Li Shu and other officials could only salute and praise.

"It is proposed to build virtuous and virtuous shrines in Nanjing, Suzhou, Songjiang, Ningbo, and Hangzhou, and the officials of each government will send special officials to manage them, so as to make the achievements of Ji Wang Shouren, Cong Lan, Zhang Jin, and Xiong Hu!"

When Zhu Houzhao said this, in addition to Zhang Jin, Wang Shouren and other officials who took the lead in reforming the tax administration for Zhu Houzhao were very excited, after all, as a civil official, who does not want to be famous for centuries.

Only Zhang Jin was helpless, from the bottom of his heart, he was unwilling to let the imperial court reform the tax administration, but at that time, the court discussion on the reform of the Jiangnan tax administration made him unable to stop the purpose of the imperial court to reform the Jiangnan tax administration, so he could only take advantage of the opportunity that he was the left servant of the Nanjing household department to be arranged by His Majesty to enter the Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau to try to protect the interests of the Jiangnan gentry in the reform of the tax administration.

Therefore, now, Zhang Jin is not happy because the emperor wants to order the local government to build a virtuous temple for himself, he is really not happy in his heart, his Zhang family is a big family in the south of the Yangtze River, and the taxes paid are no less than 50,000 silver dollars a year, which is enough for him to build countless virtuous temples.

But no matter how sad he was in his heart, Zhang Jinming still had to follow Wang Shouren and wait to express his gratitude to Zhu Houzhao, and he also vowed to continue to be a pioneer of reform in the future.

What made Zhang Jin even more uncomfortable was that he was obviously trying his best to protect the interests of the Jiangnan chaebol, but most of the Jiangnan gentry still looked at him with a resentful look, and he knew that it was obvious that the Jiangnan gentry did not regard themselves as their own people, which made Zhang Jin feel wronged and even more uncomfortable.

Zhu Houzhao now wants to ask Nanzhili and the local government of Zhejiang to build a virtuous and virtuous shrine for Wang Shouren and others, on the surface, Zhu Houzhao wants to reward the officials who do things for him, but in fact, he is disgusted by these Jiangnan gentry who are ostensibly upright and selfless and oppose the imperial court.

Li Shu and other Jiangnan gentry did feel very disgusted at this time, they now hate Wang Shouren and others very much, where are they still in the mood to see their ancestral hall appear in Jiangnan, especially Cong Lan, a northern official who can't wait to scrape the skin of his Jiangnan gentry in Jiangnan.

Zhu Houzhao knew that the taste in the hearts of the Jiangnan gentry must be uncomfortable, but if it is not comfortable, it will be uncomfortable, and sometimes the emperor himself can't do his own thing, not to mention that these people are not emperors.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Zhu Houzhao was ready to leave Jiangnan, and before leaving Jiangnan, he couldn't help but think of the mention of inheritance tax in the tax reform, and couldn't help but ask Wang Shouren: "What kind of income can there be from inheritance tax." ”

"Back to Your Majesty, Cong Lan and they have already begun to send people to the people to make secret visits, as long as there are inheritance disputes among the people, they will definitely send people to do the work, telling them that as long as they are willing to pay the inheritance tax, the court will definitely administer justice for them and intervene in the internal affairs of the clan!"

Wang Shouren replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded after hearing this, and at this time, after pondering for a while, Wang Shouren suddenly said: "Your Majesty, according to the statistics of shops and workshops at the time of taxation, the ministers found that the industries of Li Shu, Zhang Jin, Ji Xuan, etc. are very large, especially Ji Xuan, a giant businessman in Huizhou who is a student, actually controls one hundred and twenty-four commercial houses, and the annual profit is about 200 million silver dollars, which is not inferior to the Chen's family!" ”

Wang Shouren's family is a family that followed his own emperor's early investment, and the degree of capital is only comparable to a few in the Ming Dynasty, and now Wang Shouren said that this Ji Xuan is not inferior to his own family, which also makes Zhu Houzhao also surprised by Ji Xuan's wealth.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty is now highly affluent, and it is normal for a family to be richer than Wang Shouren's family, what really makes Zhu Houzhao feel abnormal is that Ji Xuan's identity is just a student, how can a student have so much wealth.

"I will let Jinyiwei investigate this Ji Xuan, and for officials such as Li Shu and Zhang Jin, let the Dongchang Inspectorate investigate, Zhang Jin is okay, after all, although he is reluctant, he has also worked hard for the implementation of the new tax, but other officials and gentry who are doing evil in secret, as long as they are guilty, they cannot be forgiven!"

Zhu Houzhao said and said: "I don't know when the Ming Dynasty began to collect the first inheritance tax, as long as the first inheritance tax is collected, in the future, the imperial court can directly intervene in the internal affairs of these clans of the gentry and wealthy businessmen!" ”

Wang Shouren also nodded, he also knew why His Majesty valued the inheritance tax.

……

After the banquet, Li Shu returned home depressed, and the implementation of the new tax policy and the failure of the strike caused him to lose a lot of money.

However, at this time, Li Shu's wife Lian came over: "Master, you can be regarded as coming back, Li Qing of the fifth room died suddenly yesterday, but he only left one daughter, his wife Zhao is from Fuzheng's concubine family, and the elders in the clan intend to let the Zhang family be martyred, so as to earn the reputation of the Li family's door, so that outsiders can know that our Li family is well-educated, and women and children all have the chastity of observance!" It's also good to earn a good reputation for the future generations of the clan to be officials! As for the daughter of Wufang, the housekeeper of the Dingguo family took a fancy to her and was willing to spend 5,000 silver dollars to buy her and give it to the Dingguo Gong, but because you are the head of our Li family, you still have the idea of this matter. ”

"The fifth brother is gone?!"

Li Shu didn't know whether he was happy or sad on his face, and after asking, he hurriedly motioned to the maid to change into plain clothes.

Lian nodded: "The person who reported the funeral hasn't left yet, you can ask yourself, master." ”

Therefore, Li Shu sent a funeral report to the person and asked the man: "When has your master not been there?" ”

"If you go back to the master, you didn't have it last night!" After the mourner said, Li Shu nodded, and while dressing himself by his maid, he said:

"Come on, go and spread the size of the family, now immediately go to the Wufang family in Xihe to mourn, and tell the people under the five rooms that now their master is gone, don't think that the five rooms are gone, they can seize property and steal money, if we let us know, we will not spare them, let them all stay alive, and they are not allowed to mourn!"

Saying that, Li Shu changed into plain clothes, and hurriedly went to Li Qing, a member of the Li family's Wufang clan, and then cried when he saw Li Qing's coffin: "Fifth brother, why are you suddenly gone, tell me about you, you have been in business for so many years, and you have earned a great foundation, and suddenly you will leave it alone, you will make us brothers tired to death!" ”

Li Shu cried for a while, and only after seeing that everyone in his family had arrived, did he stand up, quickly suppressed his tears, looked at the Zhao family who had been kneeling in the mourning hall and crying, smiled coldly, and instructed his henchman Li Jiu: "Bring the adulterer up!" ”

After a while, Li Jiu brought a weak and weak person with him.

And the people of the Li clan also smiled secretly when they saw this, they all knew what their patriarch, who was an official in the imperial court, was going to do, this kind of thing of eating out of the household was beneficial to everyone in the clan, and naturally no one felt that it was wrong.

However, the Zhao family didn't know yet, but when they heard Li Shu, who was still crying sadly just now, called the eldest master in the family of his own man's cousin, say to bring the adulterer up, and he couldn't help but be suspicious in his heart: "Adulterer, what adulterer?" ”

Here, Li Shu instructed again: "Bring the ** Zhao family over too!" ”

Only then did Zhao realize that he seemed to be regarded as a **, and instinctively suppressed the pain of losing her husband in her heart for a while, and asked: "Master, when did the slave family become a **, the slave family has not been out of this yard since birth, and has been serving the fifth master since he was a child, how did the slave family become a **?" ”

Li Shu didn't pay attention to Zhao, but just asked the weak man: "Yuan Yi, is she the person you secretly stole from?" ”

"It's her, it's her, her name is Zhao Cuilian, she said that she was the fifth grandmother of the Li family, because she saw that I was born white, so she did that with me, and said that when her man died, she would raise me and stay with me!"

After Yuan Yi finished speaking, Zhao realized that something was wrong, and became very uneasy, and pointed at Yuan Yi emotionally: "You are talking nonsense!" I don't know you at all! Why are you framing me? ”

"My Li family is a noble family, how can I tolerate you like this, but the ugliness of the family should not be publicized, for the sake of you giving birth to a daughter for our Li family, Li Zhao, the patriarch can persuade the clan to let you go, you hang yourself in the name of martyrdom, our Li family will not clean you out of the family tree, your daughter We will also treat her well when she grows up, and pass her on to the third room! Besides, you can't let your daughter know that her mother is a! ”

Li Shu couldn't help but look at Zhao's daughter Li Dai as he spoke, and for a while he found that the twelve-year-old Li Dai was also a beauty, which made people very excited to see it.

The Zhao family shouted wronged at first, but later because the entire Li clan blamed her for not knowing what to do, she also knew that she was irreversible, and in order to save her daughter, she could only agree to hang herself.

Thereupon.

The Zhao clan was driven to the wing room by the Li clansmen and let her be martyred by hanging.

Here, Zhao's daughter was also passed to the third room, but at night, Li Shu asked Zhao's daughter Li Dai to take her home.

And here, Li Shu asked his brother Li Feng to preside over the funeral for the deceased head of the five-room family, Li Qing, and instructed: "Use the five-room family wealth, set up a flowing water seat, and order it to go down, the size of the family, the whole village and neighbors, you can come to the five-room for dinner in the next half month, and the elders of the clan will follow me to check the accounts of the five-room, the five-room has made a lot of money in Nanyang over the years, and now there is no one in the five-room, so take advantage of this to divide it!" Take out a small part as family property, and our relatives who are close to the house will naturally get more. ”

。 m.