"Yuande, has there been a lot of changes in the family compared to before," Zhang Yufang couldn't help but say when he came to the capital again and walked into Zhang Fan's house.

"What Uncle said is," Zhang Fan, who was by Zhang Yufang's side, said with a smile, "This is the last time, after my uncle's family left, my mother asked me to build a few wing rooms in the open space in the backyard, so that in the future, when my uncle's family came here, it would not be so crowded,"

"Alas, I have a heart," Zhang Yufang sighed.

And Zhang Fan is also a little ashamed in his heart, although after the words of a few people, Zhang Fan has long been relieved of the things in his heart, but now when it comes to this matter, Zhang Fan still feels a little ashamed in his heart, to be honest, those wings were built by the Zhao family when they came to the capital last time Zhang Yufang's family came to the capital, and when they just went back.

Of course, Zhang Fan didn't stop it, he also felt that it was not a bad thing to have a few more houses in the family, but he still had the idea of being ashamed in his heart, at that time, he felt that his mother had done it for nothing, and his uncle Zhang Yufang's family might not come back in the future, and now that he thinks about it, Zhang Fan will naturally be a little ashamed in his heart.

"By the way, I heard that you have added another daughter," Zhang Yufang naturally didn't know these thoughts in Zhang Fan's heart, and asked about this matter.

"Exactly," Zhang Fan nodded and said, "It was Ling'er who gave birth to a daughter, and the little nephew named it Lianqing, and in more than half a month, it was the time of the full moon of Lianqing, and this time I invited my uncle's family to Beijing, which also means this, this niece's full moon wine, my uncle can drink it,"

"Hahaha, that's very good," Hearing Zhang Fan say this, Zhang Yufang also got up, "But in this way, I have to drink less these days, and when I wait until that day, I can get drunk and rest,"

"Uncle said that he laughed, this wine is naturally enough," Zhang Fan also laughed when he heard Zhang Yufang say this, "But uncle, tonight, that's not good, I haven't seen you for so many days, so you have to drink a few more glasses to do it,"

Hearing Zhang Fan say this, Zhang Yufang smiled even more happily, the two of them walked and said, they have been walking to the courtyard of the backyard, although it is now the height of summer, it is also very hot, but today the sky is beautiful, the sun is not too strong, there are gusts of breeze, when it is really comfortable, the two of them sat down at the stone table in the courtyard, and the maid at home served tea.

Zhang Fan poured tea for Zhang Yufang with his own hands and said: "By the way, although there is some news on the little nephew's side, it is not as clear as the uncle's side after all, and there are some things I want to ask the uncle,"

"I don't know what Yuande asked," Zhang Yufang took a sip of hot tea, only to feel refreshed.

"It's still about going to sea," Zhang Fan asked, "On the court's side, although there is some news, the little nephew still wants to hear what the businessman himself thinks, and the uncle thinks he knows a lot of businessmen who do this business, so the little nephew wants to ask, in the past, the imperial court never collected taxes on merchants, but now it collects taxes and silver from maritime merchants alone, and the people below really don't have any ideas in their hearts?"

"I don't know what kind of news the imperial court received, but I can tell you that the people below are really happy," Zhang Yufang said with a smile.

Hearing Zhang Yufang say this, Zhang Fan thought that he was deceiving himself, but after a closer look, it was not like it, Zhang Fan couldn't help but be very confused, and asked, "Is this ...... The little nephew is a little confused, the court collects taxes, and collects a lot, isn't this businessman doing business just to make money, and a small half of the hard-earned silver was taken away by the court, how can he be happy?"

"Well, there is a reason for this," Zhang Yufang said, "Since ancient times, Shinong industry and commerce, businessmen are the cheapest, this concept, not to mention other people, even the businessmen themselves, also see it this way, this dynasty since the founding of the country, it is not wrong to collect taxes from merchants, so that businessmen earn more, but they also feel more wrong, scholars do not need to collect taxes, this is natural, but businessmen are not scholars, but the same, this makes people feel a little unhappy, and farmers and workers are not to mention, in the final analysis, This is still people's self-esteem, the more they don't accept it, the more wrong they feel in their hearts, as if the principle of profit-seeking by businessmen has been confirmed.

"Nowadays, the imperial court has begun to collect commercial taxes, although it only collects maritime merchants, but this gives people a very different feeling, however, businessmen seek profits, let's not talk about the big reason that the court can do for the people when it is rich, just from the businessman's side, they also feel that they have at least done a good thing for the court, just this heart is better, it makes them happy,"

"It turned out to be ......" Zhang Fan heard Zhang Yufang say this, and he also agreed in his heart, after all, the businessmen who have always been considered profit-seekers before, even if it is only a part of them now, but when it comes to it, they can also say that the daily use of the imperial court also has its own efforts in it, although this sounds nothing, but the feeling for those businessmen is very different.

"And the reason why they are happy is not only these," Zhang Yufang continued, "In the past, like a street market with a lot of shops, although it was prosperous, it also had a lot of trouble, and few people from the yamen would come to inspect, so there was also a lot of trouble, some gangsters and bullies in the market often came to pick quarrels and provoke trouble, either asking for money or other things, some families had big businesses, but they could invite some people who took care of the shop and nursing home to pass the trouble, but those small shops were in trouble."

"Now, the yamen also often has people patrolling these markets, this kind of thing is much less now, just one thing, it is already to make the merchants willing to pay taxes, and they are willing to pay, not to mention those merchant ships that want to go to sea, the imperial court actually sent warships to escort them, until they passed the Qiongzhou Mansion before turning back, just one item, it is already to make those merchants pay taxes and pay extremely happy, Yuande, you don't know, those robberies of the Japanese robbers, really scared these maritime merchants, right, I've heard that you have a lot of credit for this, and I want to thank you a lot,"

"Uncle is serious," Zhang Fan hurriedly said, "Zhang Fan can only do this,"

"You are humble about this Yuande," Zhang Yufang said, "You don't know, for businessmen, especially these businessmen who go to sea, it is certain to make money, but how can you make money peacefully, that is the most important thing, this kind of thing is inherently risky, not to mention encountering any strong winds and waves, even a small reef can make a sea ship silent, that is dozens of lives, just worrying about these is enough to make people troublesome, if you have to worry about those pirates, this kind of money." , don't make any money.

"Now, there is no threat of pirates, although the fleet of the imperial court is only sent to Qiongzhou Mansion, but to the back, there is no threat to the maritime merchants, although there are some pirates in Europe, but you also know that you know that most of the pirates there are ordered by the emperor of their country to rob, and the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty in the past, the things they carry, but most of them are wanted by the royal nobles of the countries there, they dare not rob casually, even if they encounter one or two unsightly, but they are not as fast as our ships, plus, The imperial court allowed ships to be equipped with cannons, and even if they encountered them, they could hold out for a while, and if ships from other countries passed by, they would be saved.

"How to say it, since the imperial court began to collect taxes, this sea, but it is much safer, especially this year, now that the midsummer has passed halfway, although there are still a few boats that have not returned, but it is almost the same, this time, there is no problem with a boat, all of them arrived home safe and sound, because of this matter, the first thing these returning sea ship owners are to pay taxes, which is also a little funny,"

Hearing Zhang Yufang say this, Zhang Fan was also a little happy in his heart, but in addition to being happy, he was also a little emotional, this would actually have such a big change, I have to say that it makes people feel a little sideways.

"By the way, how is our family's business doing," Zhang Fan asked about it.

"Our jade sells well over there," Zhang Yufang said, "It's a little funny to say, the first time I did this business, to be honest, I didn't want to make money, I just saw that everyone was running out, and our family also had some spare money, so I just tried it."

"But for the first time, it is indeed a lot of money, but the jade is really not sold a few pieces, at the time I also felt strange, a question is this is to know, that Europe is not without jade, but very little, many people have not seen, most of them are princes and nobles, but the color is not as good as ours, not to mention the carver, so our goods arrived, but it scared off a group of people, and then sold a few pieces, all out of the sky-high price, I heard it at the time, but also frightened, a piece of jade Ruyi, the fineness of the jade is not excellent, At most, it is only in the middle and upper, and the carving is also passable, if it is placed in the store in Yangzhou, do more than 100 taels of silver, it is impossible to have more, but there, it can be sold at more than ten times the price.

"Later, I asked about the local situation, and then like this kind of large pieces, I don't get to buy, I specialize in making some intelligent jade jewelry to sell, to be honest, this is really a profitable business, I didn't want to sell so expensive, but no one bought it when it was cheap, and then I thought about it, those barbarians don't make money in vain, this is not, this year, our family shipped nearly 500 things, all of which are worth about 100,000 taels here, come back at the beginning of this month, bring back gold and silver and other things, That's six million two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver,"

Zhang Fan heard his uncle say this, although he had long known about the violence of going to sea, but he was still speechless, and the return was more than sixty times, which was enough for anyone to do anything.