In the Fengtian Palace, hundreds of officials are meeting in the court, playing the world's major events to the Son of Heaven. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

As soon as the Hubu Shangshu finished playing the drought in Shaanxi, the first assistant Xue Guoguan came out, held a tooth card and said: "Shengshang, last night the concert sent by the expedited fast horse, thirty-seven civil officials from Tianjin Town have a joint copy to play!" ”

Hearing this, the civil and military officials in the court all looked sideways slightly. Tianjin: What's going on? Unexpectedly, more than 30 civil officials and the same enemy jointly played? Such a mighty joint name must have encountered a powerful foreign enemy, what enemy actually wants Tianjin officialdom and civil officials to stand up and resist together?

Zhu Youzhen also changed color slightly, and said, "Read! ”

Xue Guoguan held up the chapter and recited: "... Li Zhi, the chief soldier of Tianjin, ignored the anger of the heavens and the people, overstepped his duties and abused his power, and wanted to impose commercial taxes in a town in Tianjin... We waited for Wenchen to try their best to obstruct it, but Li Zhi, relying on the trust of the Son of Heaven, repeatedly threatened with impeachment of those who stood up... I'm waiting for thirty-seven ministers... Playing the Son of Heaven in unison, hoping that the Son of Heaven will affirm his position and not shield the lawless Li Zhi. ”

Xue Guozhi finished the long recital, and the officials understood that Li Zhi was going to collect business taxes in Tianjin.

This is not the first time that Li Zhi has collected commercial taxes, and in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, he collected commercial taxes on Tianjin West Road. Because of this, he was denounced as a traitor by officials all over the world, but he was not afraid at all.

It's only been more than a year, and Li Zhi has been promoted to the chief soldier of Tianjin, and he wants to collect business taxes in the whole of Tianjin? This guts is fat enough, not afraid of offending the world's corporals?

Li Zhi was deeply trusted by the Son of Heaven, and defeated the cabinet elder Yang Sichang in one sentence, and impeaching several civil officials was not like playing. His threat of impeachment against commercial tax protesters was indeed quite lethal. However, these civil officials in Tianjin are also smart, and they played the Son of Heaven early to make the Son of Heaven stand clearly, and asked the Son of Heaven not to shield Li Zhi.

Li Zhi was only a general soldier and had no power to deal with civil affairs, and if the Son of Heaven did not deal with the civil officials he impeached, he would not be able to deal with the civil officials who obstructed him from collecting taxes. If you can't deal with these civil officials, Li Zhi's tax collection plan will definitely be lost.

Of course, Li Zhi's soldiers are strong and strong, and his soldiers and horses are the best in combat power. He could rely on his soldiers and horses to hunt down these civil officials in Tianjin, but that would be no different from rebellion. The officials did not believe that Li Zhi dared to rebel.

Baiguan looked at the Son of Heaven to see how the Son of Heaven reacted.

Zhu Youzhen saw that all the officials were looking at him, hesitated for a while, stroked his beard and said, "This matter can be big or small..."

Hearing the Son of Heaven's vague answer, all the officials knew that the Son of Heaven was hesitating.

Li Zhi's collection of commercial taxes is for the benefit of the Son of Heaven! Last time, he collected 60,000 taels of commercial taxes on Tianjin West Road, and sent 20,000 taels to the inner treasury of the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven was very happy, and it is said that he praised Li Zhi as a loyal minister in front of the eunuchs. This time, the commercial tax collected in the whole town of Tianjin was indispensable for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. If Li Zhi can succeed, the Son of Heaven will be able to make a lot of money at that time.

The Son of Heaven and Li Zhi teamed up to exploit businessmen to enrich the inner treasury?

How unreasonable!

Hearing the ambiguous reply of the Son of Heaven, the hundred officials exploded at once.

Hu Ke walked out with a tooth tag in his hand and said loudly: "Collecting commercial taxes is an evil government of looting and accumulation!" Those small people who are promoted to run a small shop, work hard every day but earn dozens of dollars! But Li Zhi wants to collect a sum of commercial taxes and exploit these poor people, which is really unreasonable! ”

Zuo Yushi also stood up, and Zhenzhen said: "Holy Mingjian, don't be deceived by characters like Li Zhi!" During the time of Emperor Xian, there was a tyranny of collecting commercial taxes, and as a result, the tax supervisors and mine supervisors levied excessively, leviing ten wen today and one hundred wen tomorrow, and they were greedy and excessive. People all over the world rebelled, and then there were five people in Suzhou who resisted taxes, which was cited as a good story for the ages! If this tax is opened, it is really a trend for the government to force the people! ”

Zhu Youzhen was a little unhappy by the two officials, frowned and said: "The businessman is poor, and the farmer is also poor, why can the farmer levy heavy taxes, and the businessman can't add the slightest?" ”

In the bottom of his heart, Zhu Youzhen also wants to collect business taxes. Now the country is in ruins, and there is a shortage of money everywhere. After fighting Jiannu and fighting thieves, there is a shortage of major generals. If you want to stabilize the situation, you must increase the country's army, but increasing the army requires silver, and the imperial court really can't take out the silver now!

Li Zhi's collection of commercial taxes made Zhu Youzhen's eyes light up, as if he saw the hope of saving the country's finances. Li Zhi collected more than 60,000 commercial taxes in the three counties of Tianjin West Road and handed over 20,000 yuan. Then if the whole Ming Dynasty levies commercial taxes, wouldn't it be possible to get ten million taels of silver? With 10 million taels of silver, how many soldiers can be trained? What are slaves and thieves?

But the officials in the world did not let Zhu Youzhen collect commercial taxes.

Fortunately, even if the military attaché does business on his own, he only relies on his power to monopolize a few industries in his own camp, and these military attaches don't mind too much about the tax rate of 30 and 1.

However, civil officials have greater power, a wider scope of authority and management, and are inextricably linked with the businessmen and gentry who do business in the world, so they can be said to be a family. Almost every businessman had to give money to civil officials, big and small, and the civil officials had become the spokesmen of these businessmen. Every time they say that they will levy a business tax, these civil officials will fry the pot as if their homes have been raided.

Hearing the words of the Son of Heaven to defend the commercial tax, the civil officials below were filled with indignation and stood up one by one to defend themselves.

He Shishou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, said: "Holy Lord! The collection of commercial tax is to compete with the people for profit! The Son of Heaven must not shield Li Zhi! ”

Liu Zunxian, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, shouted in the ranks: "Son of Heaven, if this tax is opened, the world will be scolded endlessly, I am afraid that people's hearts will be moved, and the situation will probably be even more unbearable." ”

Wu Yingdian scholar, Pavilion Lao Fan Fucui held up a sign and said: "If the Son of Heaven levies commercial taxes, I am afraid that the wave of tax resistance will sweep across the north and south of the river, and the order of the world will no longer exist, this is to create a new enemy in addition to the slaves and thieves!" ”

In order to dissuade Zhu Youzhen, this Fan Fucui has already threatened the Son of Heaven with Shilin's rebellion.

Zhu Youzhen was a little annoyed by Fan Fucui's words, and was about to open his mouth, but saw more than 100 civil officials coming out together.

"Holy Lord, commercial taxes are not levied! The minister seconded the proposal! ”

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

"The ministers seconded it!"

For a time, more than 100 civil officials in the court raised their cards together to persuade Zhu Youzhen to give up the idea of collecting commercial taxes.

Zhu Youzhen was so angry that he closed his eyes.

It took a long time for the Son of Heaven to open his eyes and see the hundred officials who were still standing in the middle of the main hall. The more than 100 black gauze hats pressed on Zhu Youzhen's heart like a mountain, making him speechless for a while.

The Son of Heaven is just a lonely person, and if the bureaucrats of the world are all against the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven will also flinch.

Zhu Youzhen sighed and changed his words: "I know, pass on my will, let Li Zhi not levy business taxes!" ”

After saying this, Zhu Youzhen was a little distracted, and he was no longer interested in dealing with the court, so he stood up and said: "That's it for today, let's retreat from the court." (To be continued.) )