Wang Yue listened to Li Chuanxin's report quietly, and then looked at everyone present and asked, "If you have any suggestions, tell me about them." ”

Present at the scene were Li Chuanxin, director of the Jiangnan Branch of the Military Investigation Bureau, Chen Zaiming, commander of the 1st Marine Corps Battalion, Ruan Dacheng, director of the Chengguan Bureau, Zhang Zhong, manager of the Jiangnan Trading Company, Yang Yunhou, director of the Jiangnan Branch of Ming Pao, Jiao Keda, captain of the Chengguan team, Liu Rushi, a reporter accompanying the army, and Li Xuezhu, a confidential secretary.

There are also members of the Ying Tian Inspector's staff who came from Nanjing a few days ago, Mao Xiang, Fang Yizhi, Xu Fuyuan, Sun Lin and others.

Ruan Dacheng spoke first: "Lord Zhongcheng, the Ming Dynasty has always been a combination of officials and business, especially in this land south of the Yangtze River. ”

Then he said: "Now it is imperative to let the merchants open the market as soon as possible, otherwise prices will soar, and the people will inevitably complain about Zhongcheng and damage the prestige of Zhongcheng." ”

Chen Zaiming, who was present, said with anger in his eyes: "Commander, according to the humble opinion, these people should be killed." ”

The chengguan were originally the objects of his protection, who knew that more than 30 people would be killed if he didn't pay attention, Chen Zaiming was of course very angry. According to his temper, he was going to kill a lot, but Wang Yue telegraphed him to maintain restraint, and what he needed to do now was to distinguish between friend and foe.

"No!" Mao Xiang hurriedly said: "Lord Zhongcheng, according to the students' opinion, if only a few people are punished, and the rest are relieved, in this way, it will not offend the scholars and merchants in Suzhou, and there will be room for turning around in the future." This can also show Zhongcheng's benevolent heart. ”

Fang Yizhi also said: "Lord Zhongcheng, the tax rate set by Taizu at the beginning of the dynasty was only thirty taxes and one, and now the urban management fee is five times this, and it is inevitable that the crowd will be surging." ”

Xu Fuyuan, Sun Lin and others chimed in: "Please think twice!" ”

Several of them are not only scholars, but also members of the Fushe, and their way of thinking is no different from those civil officials and scholars who make trouble outside, and they also belong to the vested interests under the Ming system.

Deep down, they don't agree with Wang Yue's move to collect commercial taxes, but now that they are the governor's staff, their butts decide their heads, and a good future awaits them, if they follow their previous style, they would have patted their butts and left.

Ruan Dacheng was anxious and retorted: "How can Lord Zhongcheng retreat in distress, change the order every day, and let Xiaoxiao succeed, then they will inevitably have to make inches, how can the government order be accessible in the future?" ”

Sun Lin said with a look of disdain: "What about Director Ruan's opinion?" Do you have few family members who are in business? ”

Ruan Dacheng was originally made by them when they regained the society, but now they are working with such a person, and they can't help but be disgusted by Sun Lin and others.

"Haha!" Ruan Dacheng laughed and said, "Mr. Kexian, please rest assured, if the chengguan fee is received from me, it will definitely not be missing a tael of silver." ”

Ruan Dacheng's fame is extremely important, he has no shortage of money, what he cares about is power and official position, and only with these can he obtain identity and status.

Mao Xiang, Fang Yizhi and others wanted to make a sarcastic remark against Ruan Dacheng, but Wang Yue interrupted: "Today is not the time to argue about this, this management fee has been accepted." ”

"Your Excellency!"

Wang Yue waved his hand and asked: "Bijiang, Mizhi, Kexian (Sun Linzi), Angong (Xu Fuyuanzi), now the population of the Ming Dynasty is hundreds of millions, but how many royal families, gentry, businessmen and wealthy people account for among them?" ”

These members of the Restoration Society are quite talented, and if they are transformed well, they can also bring more traditional literati to join their ranks, so Wang Yue patiently does the work of unifying thoughts.

"Probably less than 10%!" Several people thought about it for a long time before they replied uncertainly.

Wang Yue nodded and said, "Then how much money and land do these people occupy in the world?" ”

Mao Xiang and the others were dumbfounded, and only after a while did they say: "There is no fixed number for this, and it may account for ninety percent." ”

This is not difficult to judge, and a glimpse of the whole leopard is almost this proportion in the Jiangnan area.

Wang Yue said slowly: "But the current Ming Dynasty is letting ninety percent of the poor people use less than one percent of the world's money to feed the officials of the entire Ming Dynasty, as well as the millions of soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the hundreds of thousands of royal families of the Ming Dynasty, and all the expenditures of the Ming court, is this fair?" ”

Mao Xiang and others were silent, as scholars, they actually knew more than more people.

Wang Yue continued: "The royal family, the gentry, the businessmen and the rich people occupy all the money in the world, but they refuse to contribute to the Ming Dynasty, which is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty's rogues are getting bigger and bigger, and those businessmen say that they are making hard-earned money and should not pay taxes, and they will put the responsibility of supporting the country on those hungry yellow-skinned and ragged poor, is this what it should be?" ”

"Daming is already terminally ill, and the so-called officials forced the people to rebel, and they had to rebel. The imperial court wants to support the Liao, to exterminate the liukou, once there is a shortage of money, it will only blindly increase the endowment, this is the only countermeasure that those civil officials in the court can come up with. Because they knew that this endowment would not be added to themselves, nor to the gentry and landlords behind them. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Yue's voice suddenly raised and said: "All the taxes of the Ming Dynasty are on the heads of these poor people, they use their diligent hands to dig food from the soil to support this court, but unfortunately they are still poor, with the increasingly heavy taxes, they can only starve to death, can they not rebel at this time?" Under such a tax policy, can the rogues be wiped out? Can Da Ming not die? ”

Hearing Wang Yue's astonishing words, Mao Xiang, Fang Yizhi and others looked at him in surprise.

Wang Yue snorted and said: "Since Dong Zhongshu proposed to depose the Confucianism of the Hundred Schools, the policy of fooling the people carried out by various dynasties and generations for thousands of years has not played a role in making the people more ignorant and easier to rule, but when they are on the verge of starvation, they should be opposed!" The policy of fooling the people only delayed the fall of the dynasty. ”

He looked at Mao Xiang, Fang Yizhi and the others and asked, "Bijiang, Mizhi, if you are oppressed like this and are struggling on the edge of life and death, should you rise up and resist?" ”

Mao Xiang, Fang Yizhi and others ate and said: "I, I...!" This is really difficult to answer, although what Wang Yue said is reasonable, but it is contrary to the teachings of the sages.

Wang Yue smiled and didn't wait for them to answer, and continued: "In my opinion, the rebels in the Ming Dynasty woke up too late, in fact, they didn't wake up, they just couldn't live anymore, and they rebelled instinctively, so they became saboteurs and rogues!" Even if they succeeded by luck, I don't know how many people will be killed and wounded, and the dynasty established in the end is at most a copy of the Ming Dynasty, and they still can't escape the fate of destruction! ”